Vehicular Homicide Charge in Thomson Death

The man who police arrested for hitting and killing 24-year-old Julia Thomson last weekend has been charged with vehicular homicide.

According to the Daily News and the Post, police say Tenzing Bhutia, a 21-year-old Baruch College senior from Queens, knew he hit "something" with his father's Mercedes, but did not stop.

Thomson was struck by a speeding car as she tried to cross Bowery at E. 4th Street early Sunday morning. She died almost instantly, suffering massive head injuries.

Bhutia was arrested hours after the collision when a police officer spotted the damaged car. His blood alcohol level when tested was .087, just above the legal limit of .08. Bhutia was initially charged with driving while impaired and leaving the scene of an accident. Yesterday he was arraigned on the vehicular homicide charge, which carries a penalty of up to seven years. He was held in lieu of $75,000 bail.

The Post says Thomson, who was from Scotland but had dual American citizenship, had been showing a British girlfriend around town. She was heading toward her nearby apartment when she was killed, at around 4 a.m.

Streetsblog visited the scene today. There is no indication of what happened there other than a small bouquet of flowers tied to a signpost in the center of Bowery. Employees working the lunch shift at two corner bars said they didn't witness the collision, though the Post spoke with a doorman and barmaid who did.

Time's Up! will be holding memorials for Thomson and Hope Miller, a 28-year-old pedestrian killed on Houston Street on September 25, starting tonight at 6:30 at
Houston and 6th Ave.

Photo: Brad Aaron