A federal judge on Long Island was killed and a boy was seriously injured by a driver hit in Florida, who was allegedly tall and told police he was Harry Potter, according to reports.
Judge Sandra Feuerstein, 75, died in Boca Raton after being beaten; the driver’s car was later located, Newsday reported, citing local police.
According to Newsday, the Boca Raton police department said the investigation was ongoing.
The boy, only 6 years old, was also seriously injured when the vehicle that attacked Feuerstein jumped on the curb, according to WPTV.
The hit driver, 23-year-old Nastasia Andranie Snape, was found on nearby Delray Beach, where she had crashed her car, according to the local station.
When police approached the car, Snape allegedly started convulsing, later fighting with the doctors and telling them it was Harry Potter. Police allegedly found drugs in his bag.
Snape was to be charged with vehicular homicide, being hit to death and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, the television station reported.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District tweeted condolences to the Feuerstein family on Saturday.
“As we mourn his tragic death, we also remember Judge Feuerstein’s unwavering commitment to justice and service to the people of our district and our nation.” U.S. Attorney General Mark Lesko said.
Feuerstein recently presided over the case of former NYPD officer Valerie Cincinelli, accused of paying her boyfriend to kill her estranged husband. Cincinnelli, who resigned from the force last month, is scheduled to make a deal Friday.
Feuerstein, who worked at Central Islip Court, graduated from the University of Vermont in 1966 and worked as a professor at the New York School until 1971, according to a profile on the court’s website.
She graduated in law from Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School in 1979. She was a judge in the Nassau County District Court in 1987 and was elected a judge in the State Supreme Court in 1994.
She was appointed associate judge of the Second Department of the Appellate Division in 1999 and held that role until former President George W. Bush appointed her to the federal bank in 2003.
Feuerstein’s mother, Annette Elstein, who died in April 2020 at the age of 99, was also a judge and swore in her daughter as a judge in the Appeals Division. The couple was said to be the first mother-daughter judges in the country.
Feuerstein also taught at Hofstra University Law School and was previously president of the Nassau County Women’s Lawyers Association and vice president of the New State Women’s Lawyers Association. York.