Family's lawsuit still pending against driver
A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the City of Beacon by the family of a woman who died after being struck in a Main Street crosswalk.
Judge Christi Acker also dismissed the family's lawsuit against Kearns Electric, the company that services the city's pedestrian signals. The civil suit is pending against Jacqueline Milohnic, the driver, and her husband, the vehicle's owner.
Milohnic, 59 at the time, was driving a 2019 Jeep Wrangler on Dec. 1, 2021, when she turned left from Main Street onto Teller Avenue just after 3 p.m. and hit Carla Giuffrida, 75, a retired teacher who lived in Beacon.
According to police reports, Giuffrida suffered a serious head injury but was conscious and breathing while being treated by first responders. She died five hours later at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
Lindsay Giuffrida and her brother, Mauro, filed a lawsuit against the Milohnics, Kearns and the city in 2023. It said that their mother was crossing Teller with a "Walk" signal and alleged that Milohnic was "careless, reckless and negligent" and driving at "a dangerous and excessive rate of speed."
They also claimed that Milohnic failed to yield to Giuffrida or to operate her vehicle "as a reasonable and prudent person." The suit seeks a financial judgment "in amounts commensurate with the injuries and damages sustained."
On Dec. 10, Acker granted motions by the city and Kearns for summary judgment, which ended the case against them.
Leo Kearns, the president and owner of Kearns Electric, said in written testimony that the company has maintained traffic and pedestrian control devices in Beacon for 30 years. The signals at Teller and Main were functioning properly when he performed yearly maintenance eight months before the accident, he said, and the company had received no complaints.
Attorneys for the City of Beacon said the street and pedestrian signals at the intersection were properly designed, constructed and maintained. Brian O'Rourke, an engineer who submitted testimony for the city, noted that "within a reasonable degree of engineering certainty," traffic and pedestrian studies conducted at the site were "an adequate and reasonable evaluation" of conditions.

The design of the intersection did not cause the accident, O'Rourke argued. Instead, it was Giuffrida crossing and Milohnic accelerating into a left turn and failing to yield to the pedestrian.
An engineer who testified for the Giuffrida family alleged the city was liable because it had failed to provide a "leading pedestrian interval" of at least three seconds before the traffic light turned green, or other safety measures. But the judge ruled that "the liability of a municipality begins and ends with the fulfillment of its duty to construct and maintain its highways in a reasonably safe condition."
A leading pedestrian interval has been installed at the intersection since the accident, City Administrator Chris White said on Tuesday (Dec. 23).
In her decision, Acker wrote that the Giuffrida family must provide evidence that the city's studies were "plainly inadequate" or that there was "no reasonable basis" for the traffic plan. "They fail to do so," the judge wrote.
In a statement, Lindsay and Mauro Giaffrida said they were "deeply disappointed" by Acker's decisions. The Dutchess County Transportation Council ranks Teller and Main as having the fourth-most pedestrian accidents among intersections in the county, they said, "yet meaningful safety improvements were ignored and delayed for years."
"We hope the City of Beacon begins to prioritize pedestrian safety and proactively implements proven traffic-calming and visibility measures throughout the community," the siblings said. "Beacon should be a city where public safety is treated as a responsibility, not an afterthought."
Milohnic was ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian. She challenged the citation, and City Court Judge Greg Johnston dismisse...

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