Downtown Brooklyn / Cobble Hill · Friday, August 18, 2023, about 3:21 a.m.
This is one of the clearest examples of why a Brooklyn DWI charge and responsibility for a crash are two different questions. In the early morning of August 18, 2023, a Mercedes-Benz ran a red light at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street and slammed into a Honda Accord, killing a young mother riding in the Honda. The driver of the Honda, the victim's sister, was charged with DWI. The driver of the Mercedes was later convicted of manslaughter.
What happened
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney, Kashawn Croswell of East New York was driving at 60 to 62 miles per hour and ran three red lights before striking the Honda at Court Street. The Honda spun into a tree and the Mercedes caught fire. Shanti Joyner, a front-seat passenger in the Honda, died at the scene. News reports at the time gave her age as 18; the District Attorney's 2026 sentencing announcement gives it as 21. She left behind a one-year-old daughter.
Her 32-year-old sister, Iesha Joyner, was driving the Honda and suffered a broken ankle. A rear passenger broke a wrist, and Croswell's girlfriend, riding in the Mercedes, suffered a spinal fracture.
The charges
Police charged Mr. Croswell with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and leaving the scene. Police charged Ms. Joyner, the driver of the car that was hit, with driving while intoxicated, driving while ability impaired, and driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle, according to Gothamist.
The result
In January 2026 a Brooklyn jury convicted Mr. Croswell of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, reckless driving, speeding, and disobeying traffic signals. He was acquitted of leaving the scene without calling 911. On February 13, 2026, Justice Jane Tully sentenced him to three to nine years in prison. We found no public report of how Ms. Joyner's DWI case was resolved.
What this case teaches about Brooklyn DWI cases
The driver convicted of the death was not the driver charged with DWI. Prosecutors built the manslaughter case on speed and red lights, which is recklessness, not intoxication. And the driver who was charged with DWI was the one whose car was struck.
That is not unusual. A DWI charge after a crash does not mean the person charged caused the crash, and a homicide-level charge in New York requires proof of causation, not just impairment. When someone is charged with DWI after being hit, a Brooklyn DWI lawyer separates the two questions immediately: was the driver actually impaired, and did anything about their driving contribute to what happened? The answers can be very different.
Related: another Brooklyn case where causation was the key question · consequences of a DWI
This article is drawn from public court filings, official releases and news reports, and is provided for general information only. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt. Every person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. Nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case, and nothing here is legal advice.
Sources
- Brooklyn District Attorney: East New York Man Sentenced to up to Nine Years in Prison for Fatal Downtown Brooklyn Crash (Feb. 13, 2026)
- News 12 Brooklyn: Driver sentenced to 3-9 years in deadly crash that killed 21-year-old mother
- Gothamist: 2 arrested after Brooklyn car crash that killed 18-year-old (Aug. 2023)
- Patch: Driver was drunk in BK crash that killed her sister, report says