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🔵 FIRST IN GLI: Teimurazi Kutateladze was critically injured in his wife’s alleged drunk-driving crash — and had a pending DWI case of his own, involving the couple’s Cadillac Escalade
The husband of the Oceanside woman charged with DWI in last week’s deadly Southern State Parkway crash had his own pending drunk-driving charge at the time, court records show — and his ongoing case involves the same Cadillac Escalade she’s accused of driving drunk.
Court records show Teimurazi Kutateladze, 40, was charged with DWI and driving while ability impaired by alcohol late on Oct. 1 after slamming into the back of a car in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in the family SUV.
Kutateladze, 40, was a passenger and critically injured on March 15 when his wife Diana lost control of the Escalade on the parkway near Malverne and ended up slamming head-on into a Toyota Highlander, killing an elderly couple inside, authorities said.
Teimurazi Kutateladze remains hospitalized, said a spokesperson for Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, who declined to comment on the husband’s drunk driving charge.
Diana Kutateladze, 36, is accused of triggering a six-car crash on the parkway near Exit 17S that killed church pastor Donald Maxwell, 82, and his 88-year-old wife Liscent of Westbury.
Teimurazi Kutateladze suffered a C1 cervical spine fracture, an extensive internal brain bleed, femur fractures in both legs, broken ribs and lacerations — all requiring surgery, according to the criminal complaint against his wife.
Same car, same odor
Court records show Teimurazi Kutateladze was arrested after rear-ending a vehicle at Avenue Z and Ocean Avenue while driving the Escalade.
An officer noted a strong odor of alcohol, bloodshot eyes and an unsteady balance, court records indicate. After refusing a chemical test and declining to answer further questions by NYPD cops, Kutateladze was arrested, according to legal documents.
He pleaded not guilty and was released without bail. His next appearance in the case is scheduled for June 1 in Kings County Criminal Court.
He was due in court on that case March 18 — the same day his wife was arraigned on a bevy of felony charges in Nassau County. That appearance was adjourned.
‘Whiskey and coke’
Diana Kutateladze told authorities she had consumed “a mixed beverage, whiskey and coke” before getting behind the wheel, according to the criminal complaint in her case.
A preliminary breath test at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital registered a .10 percent blood alcohol content, above the legal limit, the complaint alleges. She is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, first- and second-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, DWI and reckless driving, among other charges and violations.
Husband sued in a pedestrian strike
Court records also show Teimurazi Kutateladze was named alongside Lyft, Inc. as a defendant in a 2021 civil lawsuit filed in Kings County Supreme Court.
A Brooklyn woman alleged she was struck by his vehicle while on foot at the intersection of Ditmas Avenue and East 8th Street in July 2020 and suffered serious personal injuries. The case was discontinued with prejudice in November 2024, a resolution consistent with an out-of-court settlement.
Diana Kutateladze’s defense attorney, Taryn Shecter, and her husband’s criminal defense attorney, Aicha Elola, both court-appointed, did not return calls for comment.
The Kutateladzes have three young children: twin boys, age 6, and a 4-year-old daughter.
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