Notorious 2002 Hit and Run Driver Pleads Guilty

In February 2002, Ronald Popadich of New Jersey embarked on a shattering crime spree over four days, shooting two people dead and driving into 25 in Midtown. Yesterday, Popadich pleaded guilty to the murder of one of the hit-and-run victims who died during surgery. Popadich, a paranoid schizophrenic first killed his Garfield NJ neighbor, Lisa Gotkin, on February 10, 2002, and then drove into Manhattan on February 12, running into 18 people. Then, on February 13, Popadich stole another car, hit three people near Madison Square Garden, then turned around to hit four more, and fled into the subway; Popadich also shot a cab driver at 14th and 2nd Avenue that day, but the driver survived. Popadich is already serving 30 years for Gotkin's murder; this plea adds 25 years to his term.