Results tagged “pedestrianfatality”

Last year, a private sanitation truck driver had an epileptic seizure and fatally struck a British couple in Midtown and, yesterday, he was sentenced to 20 years to life. The Daily News reports that State Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers pointed out that Auvryn Scarlett "stopped taking his epilepsy medicine because it interfered with his boozing" and said the 54-year-old was a "time bomb." Scarlett, who had been found guilty of the murder, also never told his employer he had seizures; he said, "I'm very sorry for what took place." The children of one of the victims had written to the court, "There are lots of things that we will never get to share with our mum. She will never witness her only daughter one day walk down the aisle."

An out-of-service city bus hit and killed a 23-year-old who was trying to cross Ninth Avenue this morning. The victim, a Westchester resident, had been trying to dash across the avenue near the corner of West 53rd Street at 8:44 am when he was struck by a bus making a left turn, according to the Daily News.

Yesterday morning around 5:20 a.m., a woman on her way to work was fatally struck by a driver on Flatbush Avenue at St. Mark's Avenue. The driver, off-duty corrections officer Damon Padmore, was arrested for driving with a suspended license; other charges against him are pending.

A woman was killed by a driver in Prospect Heights this morning around 5 a.m. According to NY1, "Damon Padmore, 38, was driving along Flatbush Avenue at St. Marks Avenue, when he hit a 38-year-old woman who was crossing the street. The woman, who has not yet been identified, was taken to Methodist Hospital, where she was pronounced dead." Padmore is a State Corrections Officer at Sing Sing; he "remained on the scene, but was taken into custody when it was determined he was driving with a suspended license."

The off-duty NYPD detective who fatally struck an elderly pedestrian early Friday morning in the Bronx had a blood alcohol level of 0.21 percent almost six hours after the accident. Despite delaying the test for hours by refusing to cooperate without a warrant, 22-year NYPD veteran Kevin Spellman, 42, was still very intoxicated. (The legal limit is 0.08 percent.) Spellman's alcohol level was certainly much higher at the time of the crash, but because people metabolize alcohol at different rates, it's anyone's guess how wasted he was at 6:30 a.m.

The off-duty police detective who fatally struck a pedestrian in the Bronx yesterday morning was charged with vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, and DWI. Detective Kevin Spellman had been driving a Chevrolet into the Bronx intersection of W. 232 Street and Kingsbridge Avenue, hitting 67-year-old Drana Nikac. A witness said, "He had a red light. He went through a red light and he was speeding. He was speeding."

Earlier this morning, around 7 a.m., a woman was struck by a vehicle at West 232nd Street and Kingsbridge Avenue. The woman later died at St. Barnabas Hospital and now an off-duty police officer has been taken into custody.

    

Yesterday afternoon at around 4:20 p.m., a police cruiser traveling south on Broadway (between 135th and 136th Streets) struck a 79-year-old man who was crossing the street from a median. The man, Javier Jackson, was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead two hours later.

[Update: Some reports indicate that the victim is in critical condition after the crash.] Early this morning around 3:15 a.m., a woman was struck by a vehicle on Amsterdam Avenue near West 145th Street. WABC 7 reports, "According to one witness, the victim never had a chance to get out of the way of a car that was moving rapidly on Amsterdam Ave. The impact was so powerful, it sent the woman flying 10 to 15 feet in the air." The vehicle didn't stop and the police are looking for the driver. Witnesses say the vehicle was a silver or gray SUV; one of its side mirrors fell off and was recovered by the scene. The victim, who was in her 50s, had apparently been at a nearby restaurant with a friend before the incident occurred.

The 16-year-old who fatally struck a man waiting for a bus in Bensonhurst was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and speeding, according to the Daily News. Stanislaw Zak, 65, had been on Bay Ridge Parkway and 18th Avenue when a Mazda driven by Dervish Nivokazi apparently came speeding down the road. Nivokazi first hit a Toyota and then hit Zak, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Nivokazi, who was treated for minor injuries and only had a junior license, was driving without a licensed driver—junior license holders are explicitly prohibited from driving after 9 p.m. in NYC.

A 16-year-old with a learner's permit "struck and killed a 65-year-old pedestrian in Brooklyn" last night, 1010WINS reports. Stanislaw Zak had been waiting for a bus near Bay Ridge Parkway and 18th Avenue at 9:20 p.m. The teen, whose Mazda had struck another car before hitting Zak, will be "ticketed for driving with a learner's permit without a licensed driver"—it's unclear whether the teen will be charged with anything more.

The husband of a pregnant woman, killed when a Gristede's van—driven by an allegedly drunk man—jumped a curb and slammed into her, raged at the horrible tragedy. In spite of driver Keston Brown being charged with manslaughter, the victim's husband Raynaldo Ramos told the Daily News there would be no justice, "If they do a million years, she ain't coming back. If they do the death penalty, she ain't coming back."

Yesterday, the families of two young children who were crushed to death by an unattended, idling van in Chinatown gathered with other New Yorkers to demand the Manhattan DA's office to prosecute the incident. The NYPD called the January 22 incident an "accident" and did not issue the driver for a neighborhood restaurant a ticket or take his license. The children had been walking on the sidewalk with their pre-school class.

A 19-year-old driver who only recently got his driver's license was charged with criminally negligent homicide after fatally crashing into a 47-year-old man who had been waiting at a bus stop on Staten Island. The Staten Island Advance reports that Joseph Catrama "allegedly sped his white 2008 Hyundai through a red light at Capodanno Boulevard and Seaview Avenue, causing his car to jump the curb and strike...Nathan Pakow."

After Jersey City cop Martin Abreu was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, after allegedly striking two pedestrians—killing one and injuring the other—his mother defended him. The Daily News reports that a woman who identified herself as Abreu's mother said, "It was her fault," referring to 26-year-old Marilyn Feng, who died while crossing West Street at Albany in Battery Park City. The woman added, "So my son went out and had a couple of drinks. He deserves to have a good time now and then."

Some more details about Kenneth Guyear, the man charged with fatally striking two pedestrians with a stolen car on Sunday. Guyear said in his videotape confession, "I had five or six drinks and took two Xanax pills. I stole the car that was parked on the street. I drove the car and saw the pedestrian but I didn't think I hit anybody. I kept driving and then stopped the car and looked for blood on the car. I kept driving and the police stopped me." The Daily News reports that he allegedly said to a black police officer, "I will have your job,. For a black cop, you just follow what the white guy tells you to do." Guyear, who was held without bail, has a previous arrest for, per the Post, "unauthorized use of a car while drunk." Brendan Ogle, whose 16-year-old son was killed, said, "I hope there's enough public outcry to put this guy and guys like him behind bars."

The early Sunday morning hit-and-run incident in Queens has claimed another victim: 20-year-old Alex Paul died at Elmhurst Hospital; his friend, 16-year-old Robert Ogle, was pronounced dead on the scene. The pair had been walking home from a party when a man driving a stolen car struck them at 62nd Avenue and 80th Street.

A few hours ago, two brothers (either ages 5 and 15 or 4 and 12) were struck by a car that jumped the curb at Marcy Avenue and Quincy Street in Brooklyn. WCBS 2 reports, "The driver of a black Mercedes sedan, fled the scene after the vehicle smashed into a tree on the sidewalk. A witness told CBS 2 the driver suffered a leg injury in the accident." It's unclear why the car ended up on the sidewalk. The children, who were walking home from school, were taken to Woodfull Hospital. Last week, two children were killed when an empty van—left in reverse—jumped a curb and struck them and their day care classmates.

The mothers of the children killed by an unoccupied van, left in reverse while the driver was making a delivery, spoke to the Daily News, and it's just a heartbreaking interview. Wana Wu, whose 3-year-old son Diego Martinez, said the day care program didn't call her about the accident, "My son died by himself in an emergency room. [I was] not able to see my son take his last breath, not to know that he was in pain, not to be by my side - that's the worst thing that can happen to a parent. All I want is justice." And May Ng, whose 4-year-old daughter Hayley died immediately on the sidewalk, "Our children were killed and the driver walks away without even a ticket. How can this be? How can this be allowed?" Their children were good friends; Wu said, "Diego was holding Hayley's hand when they were hit." Lawmakers and community members have demanded the city re-examine traffic in Chinatown.

After the Thursday incident where an unoccupied van—left in reverse—barreled into a group of pre-schoolers on a Chinatown sidewalk, killing two children and injuring many others, lawmakers demanded that the city better enforce traffic in the neighborhood's busy streets. The NYPD deemed it an "accident," because the driver thought he put the vehicle in park when he jumped out to make a delivery, but State Senator Daniel Squadron and Manhattan Borough President outlined a nine-point plan to prevent further tragedy and demanded the city take action immediately.

The horrible incident where a van—left empty and running by a driver making a delivery—rolled onto a curb in Chinatown and killed a four-year-old girl and three-year-old boy, plus injured 11 other toddlers and two adults, was deemed an accident by police yesterday. The NYPD did question the van's driver, but spokesman Paul Browne said, "It turns out this was an accident," and, therefore, the driver, who was questioned and whose blood alcohol was negative, will not be charged.

The family of a drunk driving victim is crying foul after it was revealed earlier this week that the driver was able to cop a plea that will only land him in jail for eight consecutive weekends. George Anderson was able to land such a light sentence after the DA's office relied on "comparative negligence" reasoning because victim Florence Cioffi was also intoxicated and stepped out from between two parked cars when she was struck by the Wall Street executive's SUV. Cioffi's companion of 18 years says, "I'm not saying that man has to go to jail for life, or 10 years or 11, but 16 days and on weekends? That's ludicrous. It's a rich man's sentence." The family disputes the DA's claim that they were consulted before the plea was struck and plan to attend the sentencing in hopes that they can get the case pushed to a trial. An attorney for the family tells WCBS, "It seems to me [the DA's office] were trying to fly this one under the radar. They didn't want to make a stink about it. They didn't want everyone to know what was going on." The News says that the Cioffis are planning to sue Anderson.

Almost a year ago, a drunk driver fatally struck a woman on Water Street in lower Manhattan. George Anderson, who was found to be drunk, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. Florence Cioffi, the victim, had been out with friends, and prosecutors had said Anderson was driving 60 MPH (the speed limit is 30 MPH). Now the Post reports that Anderson managed to get a break because Cioffi's blood alcohol content was apparently twice the legal limit. Anderson's lawyer said, "An intensive investigation by the defense and prosecutors revealed she probably stepped out from between two parked cars." Anderson, who could have faced up to 7 years in prison, will get "eight weekends in jail, do 200 hours of community service and pay a $350 fine" in his plea deal.

After his campaign RV fatally struck a 9-year-old boy walking home from school Tuesday afternoon, the Daily News reports that City Council candidate Michael Ricatto may drop out of the race. Ricatto, who was devastated by Ibrihim Ahmed (pictured)'s death, had suspended his campaign and his spokesman told the News, "We don't know how we're going to move forward." Ricatto had been eyeing newly elected State Senator Joseph Addabbo's Council seat in next month's special election. The RV's driver, Alexander Aponte, was arrested for having a suspended license (due to owing money from car insurance lapse). While some witnesses say Aponte, who remained at the scene, seemed to be trying to beat the light, he will not face charges for Ibrihim's death. Transportation Alternatives issued a statement, criticizing the lack of serious penalties for drivers with suspended licenses."

Yesterday afternoon, a campaign bus for City Council hopeful Michael Ricatto fatally struck a 9-year-old boy in Queens, prompting Ricatto to suspend his campaign. Ibrihim Ahmed, a fourth-grader, was crossing at Cross Bay Boulevard and Liberty Avenue, an intersection many witnesses call dangerous (some kids said there should be a crossing guard), in the crosswalk when he was hit. The Post reports, "One witness to the accident said it looked like the vehicle sped up to make a light 'and smacked into the kid' at the busy intersection." The Ricatto campaign RV's driver Alexander Aponte was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Ricatto, who was running for Joseph Addabbo's seat, issued a statement: "My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the child whose life was taken in this tragic accident. I have children of my own and can't imagine the pain of losing a child in an accident like the one that occurred today. "

A 14-year-old girl walking to school in Queens was killed when a school bus hit her at 57th Avenue and 92nd Street in Elmhurst around 8:10 a.m. The girl was headed to Francis Lewis High School, where she is a freshman. CityRoom reports that cops think the incident "appeared to be accidental" (the bus driver, who stayed at the scene had "no alcohol" on his breath) and adds, "It was immediately unknown, for instance, in what direction the bus was traveling and along which of the streets and it was unknown what direction the teenage girl was walking... Also unknown was whether the vehicle was traveling with or against the traffic light." The Department of Education says the school bus was not affiliated with the DOE.

Rafael Sanz lost his wife last week, and yesterday, he lost his newborn son: Baby Sean Michael Justin Sanz, born two months premature after his mother was hit by an out-of-control van on August 14, died around 1 p.m. Mayor Bloomberg said, "Our hearts and prayers go out to the child's father, Rafael Sanz, and to all those who loved Donnette and her son. Their already heavy burden of grief has been terribly compounded." Rafael Sanz, who had been hopeful of his son's survival, told the Daily News, "My baby meant everything to me," and raged about the unlicensed, ex-con driver who hit his traffic agent wife, "I hope the driver dies a horrible death."

An M22 bus traveling on Madison Street apparently fatally struck a pedestrian. The woman, identified as Lourdes Fernandez, had gone to the grocery and may have lost her balance near Jackson Street. The bus driver apparently didn't even realize he/she hit someone while making the left turn onto Jackson.

After a dump truck crashed into a Fung Wah bus in Chinatown and killed a pedestrian, it was discovered the truck was unsafe, with a number of brake problems. Now, the president of the truck firm was charged with "unlicensed collection of trade waste," according to the NY Times.