A SUNY Cortland student was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated last week after the death of another student Wednesday in a car accident in Dryden, according to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office.
Annabelle Liz, 21, of Brooklyn, was driving drunk about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday with fellow SUNY Cortland student, Glennys Alandra Cordero, 26, of the Bronx, as her passenger, when she drove off the side of Livermore Road in Dryden and struck a tree, according to police.
Cordero and Liz were taken to SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse where Cordero was pronounced dead, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Liz’s condition was not immediately available.
Liz had been driving a Kia Soul north on Livermore Road when she drove off the east shoulder, striking the tree, police said in a release. In addition to felony vehicular manslaughter and misdemeanor DWI, Liz was charged with changing lane unsafely and speeding, traffic infractions.
SUNY Cortland held a vigil for Cordero on Thursday at the steps of Corey Union. Erik Bitterbaum, president of the college, wrote in a campus-wide email that Cordero was an active member of the SUNY Cortland community, an Art and Art History major and a recent graduate of Tompkins Cortland Community College. “Dynamic and outgoing, Glennys was well liked by all who knew her,” Bitterbaum wrote Wednesday.
Liz is enrolled in the New Media Graphic Design program at SUNY Cortland, said Communications Director Fred Pierce this afternoon. Liz is set to graduate in December.
Pierce noted that Liz has only been charged and the college is waiting for the judicial process to work.
“Our hearts go out to everybody involved,” Pierce said. “No matter what the situation, it’s horribly tragic and incredibly sad.”
