© 2024 Western New York Public Broadcasting Association

140 Lower Terrace
Buffalo, NY 14202

Mailing Address:
Horizons Plaza P.O. Box 1263
Buffalo, NY 14240-1263

Buffalo Toronto Public Media | Phone 716-845-7000
WBFO Newsroom | Phone: 716-845-7040
Your NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Charges filed in fatal October two-car crash in Buffalo

The Erie County District Attorney has announced charges against a Buffalo man who, prosecutors say, was behind the steering wheel of a car which struck another on Pomona Place last fall, killing two people in the other vehicle.

Antonio Brown, 34, was arraigned Tuesday morning in Erie County Court, charged one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of vehicular manslaughter in the first degree and two counts of manslaughter in the second degree.

He's accused of driving a Maserati which struck a Toyota sedan in the early morning hours of October 29 last year. Occupying the Toyota and killed in the crash were 33-year-old AJ Twentyfive III and 32-year-old Kristin Labruno. Both died of what investigators call "extreme blunt force trauma."

"This was a very complex investigative scene. A very complex accident," said District Attorney John Flynn. "When the police arrived at the scene, you had one victim's body that was in their vehicle, which was the Toyota. The other victim's body was outside of the vehicle, a good distance away, lying on the ground."

The Maserati, according to Flynn, had no occupants when police arrived, and investigators had to work establish who was behind the wheel, Brown or a female who reportedly was also in the vehicle.

Speed and alcohol are considered factors in the crash. Flynn says this has been a high priority case, but stalling the probe were the long wait for blood test results and then the pandemic.

"We had to send those blood results to the county lab for testing. That test normally takes between 45 and 60 days, so we had to wait for those tests to come back, ao there was a lot to this investigation," Flynn said. "There was a reason why it took a few months to get all the facts straight. And then once we got all the facts straight, then the COVID hit, and I couldn’t put a case to the grand jury."

Bail was set at $50,000. If convicted of the most serious charge, Brown could face up to 25 years in prison.