Emma Fox: Manhattanville student's death 'something she has to live with forever': lawyer

Emma Fox appeared somber today in Westchester County Court, where she pleaded not guilty on charges that she drove under the influence when she struck and killed Manhattanville College student Robby Schartner in White Plains last year.

The 21-year-old lacrosse player's death on Oct. 9, 2016, when he was walking back toward campus after a night out, is something that Fox regrets every day, her lawyer, Stephen Lewis, said after her court appearance.

"We realize that nothing that she could do, nothing that anyone could do, could bring that young man back," he said outside the courthouse. "It's something she has to live with forever.

"This is certainly a traumatic event for everybody involved."

INDICTED: Emma Fox charged in death of Manhattanville student

LAWSUIT: Schartner family sues Rye woman, bar

FINAL HOURS: Walk-up to a tragedy

IN COURT: Driver distraught in court

Fox, a 25-year-old Rye resident, left the courthouse without speaking to the media. She is due back in court on Oct. 4.

In court, Fox replied, "Yes, your honor," to a couple of routine questions from Westchester County Judge Anne Minihan as the judge arraigned her during a brief court appearance. Several apparent family members of Fox's and Schartner's watched the proceedings.  

A grand jury indicted Fox on a felony charge of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and an infraction for speeding.

Fox was initially charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter when she was arrested in the hours after Schartner was struck. That charge can be leveled against someone who has a blood alcohol content of at least 0.18 percent; White Plains police said after the incident that a breath test revealed her BAC was 0.21 percent. The legal threshold for drunken driving is 0.08 percent.

The downgraded charge in the indictment was due in part to a discrepancy with the BAC, Lewis said. He said after her arraignment today that a blood test, which was taken at White Plains Hospital about an hour and 45 minutes after the breath test, indicated that her BAC was 0.09 percent.

Lewis said that Fox, who has been free on $100,000 bond since November 2016, has "taken steps to significantly change her life," including rehab for alcohol abuse.

Fox also faces a civil lawsuit that Schartner's mother, Donna Juliette Ann Hall, filed in August against her and the Rye bar where she drank for hours before the early-morning incident occurred.

Fox got behind the wheel after a night of drinking at The Pub in Rye and at La Quinta Inns & Suites in Armonk, where her friends had a party.

Schartner, meanwhile, had been out at bars on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains. After he became separated from his friends he walked back toward the Manhattanville campus in Purchase.

Fox left The Pub in her 2012 Nissan Sentra and ended up driving miles out of her way. White Plains police said she struck Schartner shortly after 4 a.m. as he walked along a dark stretch of Westchester Avenue near the White Plains Avenue overpass.

Police said Fox drove about a quarter-mile farther before stopping at Meadowbrook Road. She called police and waited there until they arrived. Police found Schartner's body near the overpass.

Fox, according to a statement she made to police at the scene around 5 a.m. that morning, said she was on her way home and had been driving east on Westchester Avenue from Silver Lake when she took her eyes off the road to check her GPS for directions and felt her car hit "an unknown object." She was then arrested.

Schartner, a graduate of Brookfield High School in Connecticut, was a junior on the Manhattanville lacrosse team, for which he wore number 3. His teammates honored him by creating the #TeamThree campaign against drunken driving, a social media movement that attracted attention from celebrities such as New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and the rock band Aerosmith.

Twitter: @MattSpillane