Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 24-year-old Cameryon C. Nelson of Buffalo was sentenced this afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan to an indeterminate sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison.  

On July 8, 2020, at approximately 9:40 p.m., the defendant was recklessly driving at a high-rate of speed northbound on Bailey Avenue when he crossed into the southbound lane near East Lovejoy Street and caused a head-on collision with a southbound vehicle.

The driver of the southbound vehicle, 24-year-old Dorian Monique Baines, was fatally injured in the crash and died at the scene. The defendant and his passenger were taken by ambulance to ECMC where they received treatment for minor injuries.

The defendant, who was driving without a license and admitted to smoking cannabis immediately before the crash, was interacting with the driver of another northbound vehicle and attempting to maneuver around that vehicle at the time of the collision.

Judge Eagan found Nelson guilty of one count of Manslaughter in the Second Degree (Class “C” felony), but acquitted him of all other charges in the indictment against him. Judge Eagan rendered her decision in early June following a two-day, non-jury trial that occurred in late May 2022.

DA Flynn commends the Buffalo Police Department Accident Investigation Unit their work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Chief Paul J. Glascott and Assistant District Attorney Christine O. Murray of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau.