by David Flint
Brendan Hoffman, a 19 year old Stephentown resident, has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide in relation to the June 28 accident on Cranston Hill Road in Stephentown that killed his friend, Christopher Baker. According to Rensselaer County District Attorney Richard McNally, the charge is a Class B felony from which a conviction could result in up to 25 years imprisonment. Elements of the charge include driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and causing the death of another person.
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McNally said that the case is now pending future potential Grand Jury action and all appropriate charges will be considered including leaving the scene of an accident, speeding and failing to keep right. McNally said that Hoffman turned himself in to the Rensselaer County Sheriff and was arraigned Wednesday before Judge Paul Toomey in Sand Lake Town Court. He was released on $20,000 bail.
Christopher Baker, a popular 24 year old RPI student, was thrown from a car allegedly driven by Hoffman in the early morning hours of June 28. A witness said that following the crash Hoffman was picked up and taken from the scene by a woman in another car. Sheriff’s Deputies investigating were not aware that there had been a passenger in Hoffman’s car until Hoffman’s father called later that morning. They searched, along with Stephentown firefighters, and found Baker’s body about 100 feet from the crash. They also interviewed Hoffman at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. The woman allegedly driving the car that left the scene has not been identified.
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