Police Officer Speeds at 78 MPH Through Red Lights, Kills 30-Year-Old Driver and Gets Immunity

It was shortly after midnight on February 22, 2023, when a police officer in Troy, New York, received a call described by dispatch as a very active emergency involving yelling and screaming. Officer Justin Byrnes got behind the wheel of his marked police SUV and headed toward the location. What happened next would end with a 30-year-old father dead, a family shattered, a multimillion-dollar civil settlement, and a criminal investigation that ultimately resulted in NO CRIMINAL CHARGES.

The officer was responding to an emergency, and that distinction became central to everything that followed. But as Byrnes accelerated through the city streets, another driver was traveling toward the same intersection. His name was Sabeeh Alalkawi. He was 30 years old, a delivery driver, a husband, and the father of twin boys who were only nine months old when he died.

Alalkawi was driving southbound on 15th Street. He had a green traffic light. At the same time, Byrnes was traveling west on Hoosick Street toward the intersection. The police SUV was moving at an extraordinary speed.

According to New York Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation, Byrnes was traveling more than 70 miles per hour as he approached the intersection. The investigation determined that his speed had reached approximately 88 mph before he slowed to about 65 mph as he approached the red light. Other reporting based on crash reconstruction and video analysis put the police SUV at approximately 78 mph when it entered the intersection.

THE LIGHT WAS RED.

Alalkawi had the green.

And the two vehicles were moving toward the same point.

The intersection was particularly dangerous because buildings obstructed the officer's view. According to the Attorney General's report, Alalkawi's vehicle entered the intersection only a split second before the police SUV. Byrnes braked and turned the wheel in an apparent attempt to avoid the collision, but there was almost no time left.

Then the vehicles collided.

THE IMPACT WAS DEVASTATING.

The police SUV struck the driver's side of Alalkawi's Honda Civic. The force of the collision sent the Honda sliding nearly 200 feet along Hoosick Street. The police vehicle also spun across the roadway after the impact. Alalkawi was critically injured and ultimately died from the crash.

For his family, the emergency call that night would become a phone call no family ever wants to receive.

Sabeeh was gone.

His wife, Zinah, was left to raise their twin sons without their father. The children were infants when the crash happened. One moment Sabeeh was driving through Troy. Minutes later, his life had ended at an intersection where he had the right of way.

AND THEN THE QUESTIONS BEGAN.

How fast was the police SUV traveling?

Was the officer allowed to go through the red light?

Were the emergency lights activated?

Was the siren activated?

Could the officer see the approaching Honda?

And most importantly, did the officer's decision to drive through the intersection cross the line between emergency response and criminal recklessness?

Investigators began reconstructing the crash using security-camera footage, police body-camera footage, civilian dashcam footage, witness interviews, vehicle data, and other evidence.

The first major finding was clear: Byrnes had been traveling at extremely high speed.

But the investigation also established that he was responding to an emergency call. Under New York law, police officers responding to emergencies can exceed normal speed limits and proceed through red lights under certain circumstances, provided they exercise the required level of care and do not act recklessly.

THAT LEGAL DISTINCTION WOULD BECOME THE CENTER OF THE CASE.

To the family, a man was dead after a police SUV came through a red light at extraordinary speed.

To investigators, however, the question was narrower.

Could prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Byrnes had committed a crime?

Those are not necessarily the same question.

The New York State Police investigation reportedly concluded that Byrnes had failed to exercise due caution and that his driving was a factor in Alalkawi's death. A later administrative proceeding also found his conduct reckless for purposes of his driving privileges. But criminal prosecution required prosecutors to meet a much higher legal standard.

And that difference would ultimately determine the outcome.

THE CRASH WAS NOT IN DISPUTE.

The police SUV struck Alalkawi.

Alalkawi died.

The officer had been driving at high speed.

The officer entered the intersection against a red light.

But the criminal question was whether the evidence proved the officer had consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk in a way that constituted criminal recklessness.

That is where the case became complicated.

The Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation conducted a lengthy review. Investigators examined footage from multiple security cameras, a civilian dashboard camera, and police body-worn cameras. They interviewed witnesses and analyzed the applicable traffic and criminal laws.

And eventually, the Attorney General's office announced its decision.

NO CRIMINAL CHARGES WOULD BE FILED.

The official explanation was not that the officer had done nothing wrong.

Instead, prosecutors said they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his conduct met the criminal definition of recklessness required for charges such as second-degree manslaughter.

That distinction is critical.

The Attorney General's report explicitly stated that the officer was responsible for Alalkawi's death, but concluded that the evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Byrnes' conduct was a gross deviation from what a reasonable officer would have done under the circumstances.

THE FAMILY, HOWEVER, STILL HAD A CIVIL CASE.

Zinah Alalkawi filed a lawsuit against the City of Troy, the Troy Police Department, and Officer Byrnes. The lawsuit sought damages for the death of her husband.

The civil case eventually ended in a settlement.

In July 2024, the Troy City Council authorized a settlement of more than $5.77 million with the Alalkawi family. The city's own documents stated that the settlement resolved the claims brought in the lawsuit and expressly stated that there was no admission of wrongdoing by the defendants.

So the outcome was far more complicated than the phrase “gets immunity” suggests.

There was no criminal conviction.

There was no criminal prosecution.

But there was a major civil settlement.

And there were also consequences for the officer's career.

By July 2024, Byrnes was no longer employed by the Troy Police Department. Reporting at the time stated that he had been removed from patrol duties and subsequently left the department.

THERE WAS NO SIMPLE ENDING.

For the Alalkawi family, money could never bring Sabeeh back.

His twin sons would grow up without their father.

His wife would have to raise them carrying the memory of a man who left home that night and never returned.

And for the police department, the crash became a painful examination of emergency-driving practices.

The case also exposed disagreements over the officer's use of emergency equipment.

Earlier reporting questioned whether the siren was activated as the officer approached the intersection. Later, the Attorney General's investigation concluded that the siren had been activated approximately six seconds before the crash. The report also found that the officer had activated his emergency lights, slowed from 88 to 65 mph, and attempted to steer away when he saw Alalkawi's vehicle.

But six seconds can be an incredibly short amount of time when a vehicle is moving at highway speeds through a city intersection.

And that raises the question at the heart of the entire story.

HOW MUCH WARNING IS ENOUGH?

A police officer responding to an emergency has a duty to reach the scene quickly.

But civilians on the road may have no idea what is happening behind them.

They may not hear a siren.

They may not see emergency lights until it is too late.

They may approach an intersection believing they have a green light and every reason to continue.

That is what investigators said happened to Alalkawi.

He was traveling at approximately 33 mph and had a green light when he entered the intersection. The police SUV was approaching from his left, moving at a much higher speed. The officer's view was partially blocked by buildings.

THERE WAS ALMOST NO TIME TO REACT.

When the vehicles finally became visible to each other, the collision was nearly unavoidable.

The officer braked.

He turned.

But the police SUV still struck the driver's side of the Honda.

And the consequences lasted far beyond the few seconds of impact.

The family pursued civil accountability.

The state investigated potential criminal responsibility.

The police department faced scrutiny over its emergency-driving practices.

And the public was left with an uncomfortable question about how much protection the law should provide officers who cause fatal crashes while responding to emergencies.

The Attorney General's office ultimately relied on the criminal standard.

Not whether the driving was dangerous.

Not whether a family had been devastated.

Not whether the department should change its policies.

But whether prosecutors could prove the specific elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

THE ANSWER WAS NO.

The case was closed without criminal charges.

But that did not erase the other findings.

The crash had been investigated.

The officer's conduct had been scrutinized.

A civil lawsuit had been filed.

A multimillion-dollar settlement had been approved.

And the officer was no longer with the department.

That is why describing the outcome simply as “immunity” can be misleading. The official record describes a decision not to pursue criminal charges because prosecutors concluded that the evidence did not meet the criminal standard. It does not mean that every form of accountability disappeared.

The difference matters.

Criminal prosecution asks whether a crime can be proven under the applicable law.

Civil litigation can address financial damages.

Administrative proceedings can address professional conduct or driving privileges.

Departmental action can address employment.

Those processes can produce different outcomes from the same event.

AND THIS CASE PRODUCED DIFFERENT OUTCOMES.

No criminal charges.

A $5.77 million civil settlement.

Termination from the police department.

And a family permanently changed by the death of a 30-year-old husband and father.

The Attorney General's report also noted that there was no evidence Byrnes was impaired by alcohol or drugs, distracted by a phone, or otherwise distracted. A breath test conducted less than an hour after the collision registered 0.00% BAC.

That fact is important because the title's dramatic framing can make it sound as though the officer simply ignored every safety rule.

The official investigation tells a more complicated story.

He was responding to an emergency.

He was traveling extremely fast.

He entered a red-light intersection.

He had emergency lights and siren activated according to the final state investigation.

He slowed.

He attempted to avoid the Honda.

And yet his vehicle still struck Alalkawi and caused his death.

THE RESULT WAS TRAGIC EVEN THOUGH THE LEGAL CONCLUSION WAS DIFFERENT.

For Sabeeh's family, the distinction between “criminally reckless” and “not criminally chargeable” could never change what happened.

A father was still gone.

Two young children were still growing up without him.

And one intersection had become the final location of a life that should have continued for decades.

The case also became a reminder that emergency driving carries risks not only for officers but for everyone around them.

When a patrol vehicle travels through a red light at extraordinary speed, the officer may be trying to reach someone in danger.

But another person can be entering the intersection with no knowledge of the emergency unfolding nearby.

THE DANGER EXISTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SIREN.

Police need to respond quickly.

Drivers need predictable traffic patterns.

And departments have to train officers to balance those competing demands.

After the crash, Troy police made changes to training and equipment, including the installation of cameras in patrol vehicles, according to later reporting.

But no policy change could undo what happened on February 22, 2023.

Sabeeh Alalkawi was 30 years old.

He had been driving his Honda through an intersection on a green light.

A police SUV entered from another direction.

The impact took his life.

And what followed became a legal battle over one question: when does an emergency response become criminally reckless?

The answer in this case was that the evidence did not meet the criminal threshold.

But the story did not end there.

The family received a major civil settlement.

The officer lost his job.

The department faced scrutiny.

And the state publicly explained why it believed a criminal prosecution could not succeed.

THE LAW PROVIDED ONE ANSWER. THE TRAGEDY PROVIDED ANOTHER.

There is no way to rewrite the seconds before the collision.

No way to give Sabeeh another chance to drive through that intersection.

No way to give his children the childhood they would have had with their father.

And no legal finding can make those facts disappear.

What remains is the record: an emergency call, a police SUV traveling at extraordinary speed, a red light, a green light for another driver, a collision, and a 30-year-old man who never made it home.

The officer was not criminally charged.

The family was awarded a multimillion-dollar settlement.

The department lost the officer from its ranks.

And the debate over emergency police driving continued long after the wreckage was cleared from the road.

Because sometimes the most difficult cases are not the ones where everyone agrees about what happened.

They are the cases where the facts are largely known, the consequences are undeniable, and the law still asks a much narrower question.

DID THE EVIDENCE PROVE A CRIME BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT?

In the death of Sabeeh Alalkawi, prosecutors said it did not.

But the intersection, the crash, and the family left behind remain part of the record.

And that is what makes this case so difficult to forget.

A police officer was racing to an emergency.

A civilian was driving through a green light.