A Florida woman who told medics she was Harry Potter was arrested in connection to a hit-and-run crash that killed a New York federal judge and injured a 6-year-old boy on Friday.
Nastasia Snape of North Lauderdale is being charged with vehicular homicide following a crash that killed 75-year-old District Judge Sandra Feuerstein. Witnesses told police that 23-year-old Snape was driving erratically, according to court records viewed by the Associated Press. She allegedly went around stopped traffic onto a sidewalk and struck Feuerstein. She then allegedly went back on the road and later struck the boy, Anthony Ovchinnikov, on a crosswalk.
Police said Snape fled from Boca Raton to Delray Beach, where she eventually crashed her vehicle. As NBC News writes, upon receiving medical attention Snape “began fighting with emergency medical workers in the ambulance and said she was Harry Potter,” per a probable cause affidavit. Police claimed to have found bath salts in her purse.
Feuerstein, who represented New York’s Eastern District, had been on the federal branch since 2003, when former President George W. Bush appointed her following 16 years as a New York state judge. Eugene Corcoran, the Eastern District’s executive, said in a statement following her death that Feuerstein’s “eccentric style and warm personality lit up the courtroom. She will be missed by her colleagues and litigants alike.”
Ovchinnikov’s condition could not be determined as of Sunday.
