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Joseph Gray

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Brooklyn police officer charged with manslaughter in a car accident earlier this month that killed a pregnant woman, her 4-year-old son and her teen-age sister resigned Tuesday.

A spokesperson from the New York Police Department told CNN that Officer Joseph Gray resigned during a disciplinary hearing at police headquarters.

Harold Levy, Gray's attorney, told CNN a request was denied for a postponement of a departmental trial and interrogation until after Gray's criminal trial. At that point Gray made the decision to resign, he said.

"He was somber," Levy said. "He was a cop for 15 years."

Gray has been indicted on three counts of manslaughter and is free on $250,000 bail.

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Police said blood tests showed Gray had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood after the accident in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn on Saturday, August 4.

Gray's van struck the family after he allegedly ran a red light following a visit to an "off-limits" topless bar where he had been drinking with fellow officers. Gray was off duty but on his way to work at the time.

Maria Herrera, her son, Andy, 4, and her sister, Dilcia Pena, 16, were killed. Herrera's unborn child was delivered in an emergency cesarean section after the accident but later died.

Attorney Johnnie Cochran, who said he is representing the family of Dilcia Pena, told CNN recently he has already filed a claim -- a precursor of wrongful death civil suit -- with city of New York.

"It alleges that there was negligence, gross negligence really, on the part of this officer Gray and on the part of the supervisors who failed to reign him in if they knew or should have known about his proclivity and propensity to drink," Cochran said.

In the wake of the investigation into the deadly incident, 17 officers were disciplined for department drinking violations or for failing to properly supervise the officers.