4um: NYPD Detective From Elite Unit Drunkenly Mowed Down Bronx Grandmother Following A Night Of Boozing

A decorated NYPD detective from an elite unit drunkenly mowed down a Bronx grandmother as he drove home yesterday following a night of boozing -- in a deadly episode eerily similar to one involving another city cop last month, authorities said.

Detective Kevin Spellman, 42, worked on a task force that hunted down the city's most dangerous criminals. He was driving on Kingsbridge Avenue in a US Marshal-issued Chevy at around 6:30 a.m. when he struck Drana Nikac at West 232nd Street, cops said.

Nikac, a 67-year-old retired textile worker who was out collecting bottles for recycling, went head-first into Spellman's windshield -- leaving a basketball-sized dent in the glass -- and then over the roof of the car. Her right leg was partially severed by the impact, witnesses said.

David Greene

DEADLY DRIVE: Detective Kevin Spellman is charged with DWI and vehicular manslaughter after barreling over Drana Nikac with his car yesterday.

Spellman, a 23-year NYPD veteran who lives in Riverdale, immediately jumped out and began rendering aid. He called on passers-by to phone 911.

When help arrived, officers noted Spellman "was unstable on his feet and smelled of al cohol." He re fused to submit to a Breatha lyzer test and was arrested.

He told an offi cer who re sponded to the scene: "I never saw him, the dude came out of nowhere," said Bronx prosecutor Graham Van Epps at Spellman's arraignment hearing last night.

Paramedics rushed Nikac, of Kingsbridge, to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she was declared dead.

Spellman was taken to Jacobi Hospital at around noon where a blood test was performed -- 5½ hours after the incident. Results were expected later today.

Sources said Spellman had been drinking at a Bronx bar called Pauline's to celebrate a fellow officer's birthday after getting off his shift at midnight. He spent about six hours there before the deadly accident.

He was charged last night with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and DWI and released on $25,000 cash bail.

Spellman's lawyer said he was a decorated and respected cop.

"Detective Spellman is deeply saddened by the tragic accident, and that's exactly what this is, an accident," said attorney James Moschella.

The devastated family of Nikac -- an Albanian immigrant from Montenegro -- said Spellman's service record means nothing.

"It's not a matter of what he did for a living -- it's simply what he did," said her 21-year-old granddaughter, Lora Juncaj.

"She wanted to be there for her grandkids' wedding. Now she can't do that."

Family said Nikac regularly collected bottles and cans -- and then donated the money she raised to charity.

Spellman was assigned to the elite High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area unit, which is a joint federal-state fugitive task force that apprehends the city's most wanted and dangerous felons.

The deadly accident comes about a month after off-duty officer Andrew Kelly ran down a pastor's daughter in Brooklyn while allegedly driving drunk.

In that case, Kelly also allegedly refused to take a Breathalyzer test and his blood wasn't taken until seven hours after the incident.

The test showed no alcohol in his system but he was charged anyway.

Additional reporting by Matthew Nestel and Douglas Montero