Georgia Woman Gets Up To 10 Years In Prison For Fatal Massapequa Crash: DA

July 26, 2025

“High on marijuana, this defendant careened straight into [a] vehicle, instantly taking the woman’s life,” Nassau D.A. Anne Donnelly said.

MINEOLA, NY — The Nassau County District Attorney announced that a Georgia woman was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for driving while high on marijuana and crashing into another vehicle in April 2024, killing the driver of the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Rachel Lodice, 22, pleaded guilty on June 2 to charges that include second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, second-degree vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatality without reporting, third-degree grand larceny and driving while ability impaired by drugs, D.A. Anne Donnelly said.

Lodice was sentenced on Monday to 3-1/3 to 10 years in prison.

On the evening of April 23, 2024, Lodice got into her 2023 Kia Rio at a Target store in Hicksville and began driving south on Newbridge Road. She pulled into a Walgreens parking lot a short time later at the corner of Old Country Road and Hicksville Road where she stopped momentarily, Donnelly said.

Lodice then pulled onto Hicksville Road and began driving erratically at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said.

She drove more than six miles southbound on Hicksville Road, and at times, did so on the wrong side of the double yellow line, over raised medians, and through several red traffic lights, the D.A.’s office said.

Lodice ran a red light at the intersection of Hicksville Road and Sunrise Highway while impaired by marijuana and t-boned a 2022 Nissan Altima driven by 64-year-old Cynthia Mitchell and carrying another passenger, Donnelly said.

Mitchell suffered extensive injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital where she died shortly after arrival, prosecutors said.

Mitchell’s passenger suffered several broken ribs and a lacerated spleen and was also taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.

According to the event data recorder from Lodice’s vehicle, she was driving approximately 76 miles per hour five seconds before the crash. The speed limit at that section of roadway is 35 miles per hour, Donnelly said.

“Cynthia Mitchell and her friend were on their way to Hobby Lobby. Their light turned green on Sunrise Highway, and as each of us do every day on the streets of Nassau County, Cynthia trusted she was clear to drive. But Rachel Lodice didn’t stop at her red light. Instead, high on marijuana, this defendant careened straight into Cynthia vehicle, instantly taking the woman’s life,” said DA Donnelly. “Cynthia died because of Rachel Lodice’s recklessness. It was this defendant and her actions that robbed this world of a loving mother and respected member of the community.”

Lodice is represented by the Nassau Legal Aid Society’s Jenna Spelke, who Patch attempted to reach for comment.

Source: https://patch.com/new-york/massapequa/georgia-woman-gets-10-years-prison-fatal-massapequa-crash-da

Written by: Joshua Stuart

Rate it