Unlicensed Hit-and-Run Driver Charged for Killing 90-Year-Old in Queens
Photo: Franz Golhen
An unlicensed 25-year-old hit-and-run driver who killed an elderly woman on her Jamaica block on Wednesday morning was charged in the crime, the NYPD said.
Eber Baten, 25, slammed into Isabel Duarte, 90, with his Ford Econoline van as he made a left turn from Jamaica Avenue onto 129th Street, which Duarte was crossing at around 7 a.m.
Baten fled but was later caught, arrested, and charged with leaving the scene of a collision, failure-to-yield, failure to exercise due care, and driving without a license, cops said.
The NYPD's swift action to apprehend and immediately charge Baten deviates from other recent crashes involving blatantly negligent behavior.
On Saturday, a white pickup truck driver struck and killed 62-year-old Edith Perez at Farrington Street and 31st Road in Flushing. Later in the day, an Academy Bus driver ran over a 73-year-old man on 10th Avenue in Manhattan and fled the scene.
Neither driver faced charges; NYPD would only say that investigations were "ongoing." The NYPD said the same thing when a pedestrian died Sunday after being hit hours earlier in Chelsea, and in late October, when three more pedestrians were killed.
The NYPD declined to comment on its approach to enforcement.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
SEE IT: Cops Nearly Kill Teen on Moped on Brooklyn Greenway
The NYPD has a history of officers recklessly using their vehicles in chases. On Wednesday, its officers almost killed a moped rider.
Bus Advocates Target Anti-Busway ‘Hypocrites’ at Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden
A petition drive by Bronx bus riders calls out the institutions for boosting transit on their websites, but then trying to undermine it in the real world.
‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
Kareem found out the hard way that his Craigslist gig delivering temp tags was illegal. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him, revealing clues about his anonymous bosses that all trace back to the same place.
Day 3: These Hunger Strikers aren’t Paid Lobbyists — But Albany Can’t Tell the Difference
ALBANY — “They are putting every barrier in our way to not have to face us directly and look us in the eye and then make an unconscionable decision. This is Albany at its worst,” said Amy Cohen.
