A Woodhaven man was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide in a fatal hit-and-run in Long Island City last year that killed a Brooklyn man. File photo by Lloyd Mitchell
July 15, 2024 By Bill Parry
A Woodhaven man was arrested and booked at the 108th Precinct in Long Island City on Thursday and charged with criminally negligent homicide and related crimes for a fatal hit-and-run that killed a city employee from Brooklyn just a block away from the precinct more than a year ago.
Joshua Guttierez, 20, of 85th Road near Forest Park, was behind the wheel of a black BMW SUV on the morning of Friday, April 28, 2023, when he allegedly struck 58-year-old Darryl Younger as he was crossing Jackson Avenue near 50th Avenue at around 4:40 a.m. Gutierrez allegedly then fled.
Gutierrez was also charged Thursday with leaving the scene of an incident without reporting for allegedly driving away southbound on Jackson Avenue.
Police, shortly after the crash, responded to a 911 call when it was reported that a motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian had taken place on Jackson Avenue. Cops found Younger lying on the roadway unconscious and unresponsive with head and body trauma. EMS rushed him to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Younger worked at the NYC Department of Education Office of School Food and Nutrition at 44-36 Vernon Blvd., about a half mile from the crash site.
An investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that Younger, of Vernon Avenue in Williamsburg, was in front of 10-57 Jackson Ave. when he attempted to cross Jackson Avenue from west to east outside of a designated crosswalk when he was struck by the SUV, which was traveling southbound on Jackson Avenue.
Gutierrez was also charged with tampering with physical evidence and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, police said. His arraignment in Queens Criminal Court is pending.
