Albany woman sentenced to 25 years for vehicular manslaughter

Video features NEWS10's original coverage from May.

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Albany County District Attorney's Office announced that 35-year-old Brittany Hawkins was sentenced before Judge Andra Ackerman on Wednesday to 25 years in prison for causing the death of Daquon Phillips last year. The Albany woman pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter back in May after initially pleading not guilty to second-degree murder last November.

Hawkins previously admitted to using her car to intentionally hit Phillips, her 28-year-old neighbor, after an argument between the two near the Upper Sky Line Apartments around Lark Drive and Manning Boulevard in Albany on October 31, 2024. Her car also crashed into a nearby building after the strike.

Phillips died from his injuries at Albany Medical Center on November 1, 2024. Denise and Janay Phillips, Daquon's mother and sister, both issued statements ahead of Wednesday's sentencing.

"She made a permanent decision in a moment of anger, and now we’re left to live with the
permanence of that loss," Denise Phillips said. "I pray she one day understands what she took from this world. I pray she feels the emptiness that she left in our hearts. And I pray that justice is served, not just for my son, but to protect others."

"Daquan was caring, he was outspoken, he was funny, loving, and absolutely the life of the party. His life was taken, violently, needlessly, and with a kind of selfishness I’ll never understand," Janay Phillips stated. "There was no reason. No justification. Just loss. And now pain."

Judge Ackerman also ordered Hawkins to serve five years of probation after her prison sentence. Assistant District Attorneys Collin D'Arcy and Elizabeth Jektyan handled the case's prosecution.