Tiffany Howell gets 4 to 12 years for wrong-way crash that killed Manuel Boitel

Four years. That is how soon former NYPD Sgt. Tiffany Howell becomes eligible for parole after killing Manuel Boitel in a drunken, wrong-way collision on the Taconic State Parkway. It is her first reported opportunity for release, not a promise that she will leave prison then. No exact release date has been established. ²

On October 28, 2026, Judge Anne B. Bianchi sentenced Howell to four to 12 years in prison in Westchester County Court. The state attorney general’s office had sought six to 18 years. Boitel’s family considered the punishment too lenient; Howell was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. ^{2 3}

Boitel, 61, was a husband and father of two from Peekskill, returning home after his night shift as a doorman at a Manhattan condominium. The driver who struck him was an off-duty police supervisor—someone his son said should have understood, through her work, exactly what drunk driving could do to a family. ²

Howell received concurrent four-to-12-year terms for aggravated vehicular homicide and second-degree manslaughter. Concurrent means the terms run together, not one after the other: the two convictions do not turn the punishment into eight to 24 years. Her driver license has also been revoked, and she waived her right to appeal. ³

The prison range was not a surprise introduced at sentencing. When Howell pleaded guilty on August 19, Bianchi said she would impose four to 12 years and scheduled sentencing for October 28. The appeal waiver was recorded at that August hearing, too. Wednesday’s proceeding imposed the punishment the judge had already announced, rather than adopting the longer term prosecutors wanted. ^{7 2}

Aggravated vehicular homicide is a class B felony; second-degree manslaughter is a class C felony. The guilty pleas established Howell’s criminal responsibility for Boitel’s death. The dispute voiced by his relatives at sentencing was about whether the punishment adequately reflected that loss. ^{3 2}

The distinction between parole eligibility and release matters here. CBS New York reported that Howell would be eligible after four years. That does not establish that she will serve only four years, just as the 12-year upper term does not establish an exact date when she will leave custody. Describing either end of the range as her certain release date would tell readers more than the evidence supports. ²

The collision happened at 11:37 p.m. on January 22, 2026. Howell was driving south in the Taconic’s northbound lanes in Westchester County at more than 50 miles an hour when she struck Boitel’s car head-on, according to the attorney general’s office. Boitel was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead shortly after midnight. The crash occurred late on January 22; the hospital pronouncement followed after midnight. ³

Howell’s blood-alcohol content was at least 0.18—more than twice the legal limit. Authorities said she had become intoxicated at an NYPD Holy Name Society off-duty party in Greenburgh before driving. The NYPD placed her on modified duty after the collision and suspended her without pay 11 days later, CBS New York reported. ^{2 3}

Howell, 48, of Warwick in Orange County, was prosecuted by Attorney General Letitia James’s office, not the Westchester County district attorney. District Attorney Susan Cacace’s office had no role in the prosecution. ^{3 2}

That division of responsibility followed New York’s police-death investigation framework. Under Executive Law Section 70-b, the attorney general’s Office of Special Investigation assesses reported incidents in which a police or peace officer may have caused a death through an act or omission. The law covers off-duty officers as well as those on duty; it does not depend on whether the person who died was armed or in custody. An assessment indicating that an officer may have caused the death leads to a full investigation. This case concerned an off-duty traffic collision, not an on-duty police encounter. ³

At sentencing, Eric Boitel described a loss sharpened by his father’s respect for law enforcement. He said Howell knew the devastation drunk driving could cause and that one reckless decision could leave loved ones carrying pain for the rest of their lives. ²

Howell apologized and said she took full responsibility. “I know I made a terrible decision and I know the consequences are irreversible,” she told the court. She also acknowledged the contradiction between her conduct and her career: “It’s incredibly painful to know that my actions were the complete opposite of the values that I spent my career upholding.” ²

Her attorney, Andrew Quinn, called the collision “tragic beyond words” and out of character, describing Howell as a woman of integrity, kindness, generosity and compassion. Those character arguments did not persuade Boitel’s relatives to accept either her apology or the sentence. ²

“It doesn’t feel sincere. It doesn’t feel like it’s from the heart,” Eric Boitel said. Family member Marvin Boitel called the apology performative and said he still disagreed with the punishment. Their assessment of Howell’s sincerity is their judgment, not something a guilty plea can settle. ²

The court has now imposed the prison terms. It cannot resolve the family’s central objection simply by doing so: a finite punishment has been set against a permanent absence. Boitel was driving home from work. His family will live with the consequences long after the question of Howell’s release has been answered.