Albany County District Attorney Lee C. Kindlon announced today that the 25-year-old woman who crashed into a vehicle in Selkirk last year and caused the death of another woman is heading to state prison.
Jacklyn Parker was sentenced by the Honorable William Little to serve one and a third to four years in state prison after pleading guilty to Criminally Negligent Homicide.
On Aug. 19, 2024, just after 5 p.m., Bethlehem Police responded to a two-car fatal crash near 1463 River Road. Police believe Parker was travelling north on River Road when her vehicle crossed over the center line and struck a vehicle travelling south operated by Colleen Selkirk, 60 of Hannacroix, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Parker and her passenger were both transported to Albany Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Parker has an extensive history of epileptic seizures and had been warned by her doctor that she could not operate a vehicle if she failed to take medication. Parker admitted to police that she had not taken her anti-seizure meds for more than a week and suffered a seizure as she was driving that day, just seconds before the crash.
While awaiting sentencing, Parker was arrested by New York State Police on Sept. 27 and charged with DWI and a number of vehicle and traffic violations. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office sought an enhancement on her sentencing from her original one-to-three-years term due to the most recent arrest.
Before sentencing, Parker spoke and apologized to family and friends of Selkirk who filled several rows in the courtroom. She said she wasn’t asking for forgiveness but rather hoped that one day she could grow into someone who could be forgiven.
Several relatives of the Selkirk family spoke before sentencing, describing how the accident has forever changed the family.
“How do you explain to children so little, who loved their Nana so much, that they will never see her again?” Selkirk’s daughter Katherine Giordano said. “Annie still sometimes asks me if her Nana is "feeling better yet.”
Assistant District Attorney Collin D’Arcy, Bureau Chief of the Vehicular Crimes Unit, prosecuted the case.
