A Virginia woman was charged this week with negligent homicide after she allegedly struck and killed a District restaurateur with a vehicle in 2016.
Amin was hit after leaving Chaplin’s, at 1501 9th St. NW, while trying to cross Ninth Street outside of a crosswalk with another person near P Street, the affidavit said. He died after being taken to a hospital.
Elligan told police, who found whiskey bottles in the car, she’d had “a few beers” and “a few whiskeys,” according to the affidavit. She had a blood alcohol level of 0.09, according to court filings.
Elligan’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday. D.C. court records in a separate case indicate she pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while impaired in 2014 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
The charges follow the conclusion of a civil suit Armin’s family filed against Elligan in 2017.
In that case, she admitted her vehicle struck Amin but denied being legally intoxicated. She agreed to pay more than $72,000 to Amin’s family, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to his teenage daughter through 2039.
Sean Cease, Amin’s brother-in-law, said in an email that he was relieved Elligan will face charges after nearly three years “without any consequences.”
“I can’t say we are finally getting justice because no matter what happens there will never be justice for what she took from his family,” he wrote. “We continue to celebrate his life and all the amazing things he brought to our lives.”
