BOCA RATON, Florida (AP) – A Florida woman who claims to be Harry Potter has fatally hit a federal judge who visited New York and seriously injured a six-year-old boy after she drove her car onto a sidewalk swung, officials said.
Nastasia Snape, 23, is charged with vehicle murder and other crimes due to the accident Friday in which District Judge Sandra Feuerstein, 75, who has served in New York’s Eastern District since 2003, died. The boy, Anthony Ovchinnikov, was taken to hospital but his condition could not be determined Sunday.
According to court reports, witnesses told Boca Raton police the Snape was driving wrong on a busy road and was walking around when she hit the sidewalk and hit Feuerstein. Snape then drove back on the road and hit the boy in a crossroads.
Police say Snape then fled to neighboring Delray Beach, where she crashed. According to a Delray police officer, it looked like Snape was having convulsions, but he was able to get out of the car. She stares into space and will just say she’s OK.
Police say Snape started screaming in the ambulance and fighting with medics while shouting that she was Harry Potter. The medics intoxicated her. Police say they found in her purse the synthetic remedy commonly known as ‘bath salt’, which can cause psychotic episodes.
She was jailed on Sunday on a $ 60,000 bond. The Palm Beach County Public Defender’s Office was not open Sunday and has a policy of not talking about its affairs. In the Potter novels, there is a character named Snape.
Feuerstein was appointed to the Federal Reserve by President George W. Bush after 16 years, according to the Eastern District website. The court’s jurisdiction covers Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens, along with Staten Island.
She led the case of a former New York police officer, Valerie Cincinelli, who is accused of paying her lover to kill her husband. The lover went to the authorities and she was arrested. According to media reports, Cincinelli would plead guilty this week. It is unclear how Feuerstein’s death will affect the case. Her late mother, Annette Elstein, was also a judge and they were apparently the first mother-daughter duo to be judges.
In a statement, Eastern District CEO Eugene Corcoran said Feuerstein’s “eccentric style and warm personality illuminate the courtroom. She will be missed by her colleagues and litigants.”
Feuerstein was born in New York in 1946 and worked as a teacher before obtaining a law degree in 1979 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
“She sees the role of a judge as the interpretation and not the creation of law,” Joshua Glick, who contracted for Feuerstein, told Newsday. She was focused on writing clear and concise opinions that were easy to understand. She was sometimes tough on the matter which, according to her, was not entirely candid with her, but she was always fair. ”