SYRACUSE -- The man who crashed his car into the Pier 57 restaurant in Liverpool in May and then was involved in another crash the next night has pleaded guilty to a charge involving the first incident.
In Onondaga County Court Monday morning, 35-year-old Clifton Reynolds entered a guilty plea before Judge William Walsh on a charge of driving while ability impaired by drugs. Reynolds was driving north on County Route 57 on May 19 when his SUV struck a moving vehicle, a curb, another parked vehicle, and went airborne before it landed in the lobby of the restaurant.
Reynolds is scheduled to return to court on September 28, where it is expected that he will be sentenced to one to three years in state prison.
According to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, Reynolds is also scheduled to appear in Lysander Town Court later today to answer to a charge of reckless driving after being involved in a head-on collision on River Road in Lysander on May 20 - the day after the Pier 57 crash. That crash critically injured another driver. Reynolds is expected to plead guilty to the reckless driving charge and be sentenced to one year in prison, which will run concurrently with the driving while ability impaired sentence.
The DA’s office says the driver injured in the Lysander crash has agreed to the reckless driving sentence.
