Drunk Driver Fatally Hits Woman Crossing Street

A woman crossing the street early Sunday morning was killed when a drunk driver barreled down Bowery near East 4th Street. Twenty-four-year-old Julia Thomson had gotten out of a cab with friends around 4AM when a black Mercedes hit her without stopping. The police found the car in Queens hours later and arrested 21-year-old Tenzing Bhutai for leaving the scene of an accident and DWI.

Witnesses say Bhutai's car was going at least 50 MPH (one said it was as fast as 90-100 MPH). When the car hit Thomson, the Daily News says the side mirror was knocked off and WABC showed the damaged windshield. Thomson suffered massive head injuries and was pronounced dead at St. Vincent's. A witness said, "He was speeding...I am so mad, what I see, nobody can see that." When the Daily News caught up with a man who said he was Bhutai's father. He said, "I hope it doesn't happen to any other family, what happened to us. It was unexpected."

Thomson was visiting the city from Scotland and had been staying in a long term apartment in the East Village. A friend told the News, "She was just a lovely girl whose life was taken away by someone with no regard for anyone except himself."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 1, 2007 11:56 AM

Comments [rss]

drewo

#21 - accident is not the proper word - carelessness is a better description.

And he kept on driving - leaving the scene of a crime.

guest

perhaps she should have looked before crossing the road.. No driver goes intentionally looking for random people to hit specially if he is driving a Benz. I just get this feeling that she was maybe drunk herself and just ran off into the road. Overall I think both the driver and the girl are resposible in this case. The drivers mistake being, he ran away.. the girls being she probably didnt look before crossing a street.

guest

First, this is awful and I feel terrible for her family.

Second, 3rd Avenue downtown is and has always been a deathtrap for pedestrians -- you simply CANNOT cross it against the light even at 4am, and certainly not without looking. So was it her own fault? No, the other driver was clearly a douchebag. But she could have avoided it with a little attention to her own safety.

guest

A precious life was lost. i am certain the drivers family are sorry for what happened, and sympathize with the victims family as well. It was an unexpected accident. w.k.

guest

stop talking bad about the family, the father just meant that something tragic like this should not happen again. He was not trying to say that only his family is hurt by this..i agree with [6]peter..we dont know if he really was intoxicated that the time

guest

I actually witnessed a young women get out of her cab street-side and had her door completely crushed by a passing box truck. If she had stepped out 1 second sooner, she would have been killed.

Exiting street-side is taking your life into your own hands. I'll never do it on a busy street.

guest

by law, you're suppose to exit on to the curb,

NOT on to traffic.

guest

IF THE LIGHTS IS RED FOR INCOMING TRAFFIC BEHIND THE PARKED CAB, THE PASSENGER SHOULD BE SAFE ENOUGH TO GET OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF THE CAR.

Reality Czech

Shouldn't she have gotten out of the curbside door? Open a door into traffic and anything can happen.

guest

Lindsay Lohan made him do it!

guest

get a crowd of scottish soccer hooligans to tune this muthafucka up!

guest

@ #10:

Driving under the influence is worse than speeding while sober. At least there is some likelihood that a sober driver can slow down if he/she spots a person crossing the street.

The only defense to DUI/DWI is if someone forced you to drink or use drugs, then forced you to drive in that condition--and that is all very unlikely.

guest

Wow a drunk Asian driver. Now THAT's a recipe for disaster!

MarygraceNYC

#4 you are on the money with that comment!! They eventually will have to change it to something close to that I pray!!

Drunk bastards!

guest

Shouldn't speeding while sober be even more of a serious charge? I mean if you were drunk you're judgement is impaired but if you are lucid it means you sped on purpose.

guest

"It might be hard to prove that Bhutai was intoxicated at the time of the crash, given the time lag until he was caught."

That's called the ol' Lizzie Grubman.