Tabber Benedict, known as a "pretentious" Manhattan socialite, celebrated an "optional black tie" affair with his friends in January - calling it a farewell party, because he was about to jet-set to Europe for a years-long vacation. The truth was, though, according to The New York Post, he was going to jail for three to 10 years after nearly killing a man while drunk driving.
During his party, held at Chelsea's Bungalow 8 on Jan. 24, the Post reported, he tried to fool his friends, bending their ears about his trip and all the places he planned to visit.
The incident that landed Benedict a jail sentence happened at 8 a.m. on July 24, 2011, when he drove with a .28 blood-alcohol reading to Manhattan to visit his girlfriend. He had been boozing in the Hamptons the night before. As he drove on the Montauk Highway in East Quogue, he rammed into Steven Dorn, who was riding a bicycle, and then left the scene, leaving a seriously injured Dorn on the side of the road, according to the Post. Two other drivers sped up to Benedict and blocked his SUV, law enforcement sources told the Post.
Some of the socialite's 150 friends in attendance told the Post that Benedict "played it cool" throughout the party, and it wasn't until later that one friend "heard that [Benedict] was making something up." Only a few people "knew the truth," the friend told the Post.
Benedict, who says his financial law firm handled $25 billion in transactions, was disbarred - and he pleaded guilty to 10 total charges, including aggravated vehicular assault, DWI and leaving the scene of an accident.
Dorn only recently was able to return to work as a physical education teacher in the William Floyd School District. At Benedict's Jan. 28 sentencing, Dorn expressed how the accident impacted his life.
"I have a nine-inch laceration from my back that goes to my stomach, which we have as a lifelong reminder that I was almost killed that day," Dorn told the court, according to records the Post obtained.
"He's never apologized or reached out to me and my family," Dorn added. "To this day I cannot do things with my children without constant pain in my back or hip."
But Benedict's mother, Sharyn Kerrigan, spoke of her son's humble upbringing. His money comes from the high-profile events he organizes for charities, such as the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. "Tabber is not a wicked man, nor does he come from money, but has worked hard all of his life and contributes much of his time and money for free to helping others," she wrote in a letter to the court, the Post reported.
Benedict even finally apologized: "I am so sorry for what I did to your family, what I did to Mr. Dorn, his wife and your children and how I impacted you," he said in court, records show," he said in court records the Post obtained. "Not a day goes by that I don't feel awful."
In the end, the judge sentenced Benedict with aggravated vehicular assault charges.
When Benedict's friends heard about the jail sentence, they reacted smugly.
"I feel terrible for Tabber because I know there's no table service where he's headed," fellow socialite Justin Ross Lee told the Post. "He's the most pretentious person I've ever met."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
