Companion of activist Evelyn Rodriguez testifies in trial of driver charged in her death

A Brentwood man testified Monday that the driver who crushed his longtime companion piloted her white sport utility vehicle like Evelyn Rodriguez wasn't even standing in the street.

It was "like Evelyn didn't even exist," Freddy Cuevas said in a Central Islip courtroom of the way defendant Ann Marie Drago drove forward in her Nissan Rogue that afternoon on Ray Court — about a block from the couple's home.

The deadly encounter, for which Drago is standing trial, happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2018.

Exactly two years earlier, Drago's mother had found the body of the couple's 16-year-old daughter, Kayla Cuevas, less than 300 feet away in her backyard. Prosecutors say MS-13 gang members killed Kayla and her friend, Nisa Mickens, 15.

Cuevas walked into court Monday leaning on a cane before telling prosecutor Maggie Bopp he had suffered a stroke in mid-2019 and was no longer able to work.

The grieving father admitted he had been angry when he and Rodriguez, 50, approached Drago's vehicle. They confronted her about allegedly stealing items from a memorial for Kayla that Rodriguez had set up on Ray Court ahead of an anniversary vigil planned for 6 p.m. that evening.

Drago dismantled the memorial because potential buyers of her mother's home were to due to visit and she didn't want to scare them off, according to prosecutors.

Drago, 59, of Patchogue, faces up to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if Suffolk jurors find her guilty of criminally negligent homicide — the top charge against her.

Prosecutors claim Drago wasn’t confronted with any physical threat or weapons before the crash.

But defense attorney Stephen Kunken contends the crash was a tragic accident. He says his client, a nurse who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to a 2008 patient attack, was fleeing from a threat while “scared to death" when she ran over Rodriguez.

Cuevas testified Monday that nothing was left of the memorial when he and Rodriguez pulled onto the block after Rodriguez got a call from News 12 Long Island reporter Eileen Lehpamer. Earlier Monday the reporter testified about witnessing the crash, calling 911 and trying to help Rodriguez in the street.

She had interviewed Rodriguez by the memorial hours earlier as News 12 photographer Anthony Florio, who also testified Monday, worked the camera.

Another News 12 photographer, Andrew Singh, later captured the fatal confrontation on video, which jurors watched last week.

Cuevas testified Monday he was "very upset" and "just wanted to know what had happened," after he and Rodriguez got out of their minivan and approached Drago's vehicle.

He admitted to cursing and yelling at Drago and her male passenger and said Drago looked "startled."

Cuevas added: "I said I wanted my daughter's belongings ... I explained to them that my daughter was murdered."

Cuevas said he made no physical threats and walked to the rear of the SUV after asking the male passenger to get out of the vehicle. But then the SUV "took off and went forward," catching Rodriguez's foot, he said.

"That's when Evelyn went down," Cuevas added.

The witness admitted to punching the passenger in the aftermath, saying he was "enraged."

Cuevas told Drago's attorney later that when he described Drago as "startled," he meant she was reacting that way to an argument she was having with her passenger.

Cuevas also said during a cross-exam that he yelled at both SUV occupants, using an expletive while telling the driver to get out of the vehicle.

When Lehpamer testified, she told of hearing "a little rev" of an engine before Rodriguez's foot caught under a tire of the Nissan and she fell backward.

“I remember thinking ‘I hope it stops.' And it didn't," she said of the vehicle.

She recalled calling 911 after seeing two of the Nissan's tires run over Rodriguez.

The veteran journalist became emotional as she described watching Rodriguez’s life slip away while she was on the phone with 911 officials.

“I was just kneeling over Evelyn because she’s on her back ... Her chest was crushed,” Lehpamer said.

But Rodriguez’s eyes rolled toward Lehpamer.

“She looked at me,” the reporter recalled, her voice breaking in court. 

“And I held her hand. I squeezed her hand,” said Lehpamer, no longer able to hold back tears.  “I didn’t want her to be alone … In that moment, I wanted her to know that I was there.”

Lehpamer also recalled how she’d called Rodriguez after she got out of a News 12 truck at around 4 p.m. and saw that the memorial had disappeared.

Lehpamer said she described to Rodriguez how a man — later known to her as Drago’s passenger — confronted her and "confessed" to destroying the memorial before Rodriguez and Cuevas pulled up a short time later.

Later, Kunken pressed Lehpamer about why she told 911 there was an “argument” on the street. Lehpamer acknowledged that Drago had her windows rolled up and she didn’t hear her say anything before the crash.

Kunken also questioned whether Lehpamer remembered telling police the Nissan hit Rodriguez’s leg at the knee — not that her foot caught first.

“If it’s in the statement, then it’s what I said,” she replied.