Cy Vance Files Homicide Charge in Lower East Side Pedestrian Death

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance filed a homicide charge against a driver accused of killing a pedestrian on the Lower East Side in November.

On the evening of November 24, the driver of a BMW sedan hit 57-year-old Robert Perry on the Bowery near Rivington Street, and kept driving until he hit a fire hydrant a block away, according to DNAinfo. Perry reportedly often stayed at the Bowery Mission, which is near the site of the crash.

NYPD arrested Danny Lin, 24, and charged him with homicide and leaving the scene. According to court records, criminally negligent homicide is currently the sole charge against him.

This crash appears to follow a pattern of New York City district attorneys bringing homicide charges against motorists accused of causing death through acts of especially brazen recklessness. According to crash data compiled by Streetsblog, in 2013 city DAs filed homicide charges only twice — once in Brooklyn, once in Queens — against drivers who killed pedestrians or cyclists and were not also charged for other aggravating circumstances, including driving drunk, leaving the scene, striking the victim intentionally, or fleeing police after committing another crime. 

A few hours after Perry was killed, a livery cab driver fatally struck cyclist Shan Zheng at Pitt Street at E. Houston Street. Neither NYPD nor Vance filed charges against the cab driver. Vance did not bring criminal charges against the cab driver who struck and killed 9-year-old Cooper Stock as he and his father crossed the street with the right of way. These are typical outcomes for crashes that result in the death of a New York City cyclist or pedestrian.

In New York State, criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony, the least severe felony category, with sentences ranging from probation to four years imprisonment.

Danny Lin is free on $10,000 bond, court records say, and is next scheduled to appear in court in February.

  • Emmily_Litella

    The judge ought to throw the book at him. No plea deal, see it through.

  • Kevin Love

    “.. a driver accused of killing a pedestrian …”

    I would phrase this as “… a driver accused of criminally negligent homicide for killing a pedestrian…”

    See the difference? Whether or not the man is criminally responsible for the death is a question for the courts to decide. But he did kill the pedestrian.

  • Probation? $10k bond?
    Didn’t they go after Afroduck harder than this? For Christ’s sake

  • Rabi

    This is pretty standard crime reporting. If someone goes on a shooting spree and is caught in the act, he will be called “the accused shooter.”

  • Kevin Love

    But Afroduck made NYPD look foolish. That’s serious!

    All this person did was make Robert Perry look dead.

  • the_local_guy

    Personally, I’m pleased that the DA has filed these charges. Yes, as a lot of posters have said on this site, charges should be filed in many more cases. But this is a start, and I have to give the DA credit for that.

  • Nathanael

    Well, at least Cy Vance charged ONE reckless driver. Better than charging none at all.

    From my point of view, the most important thing is to get reckless drivers to stop driving recklessly. A criminal conviction, even if the sentence is only probation, *might* make them more careful.

    Letting them off without so much as a slap on the wrist just makes them continue to drive recklessly.

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