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Cops Arrest Driver Months After He Killed a Brooklyn Pedestrian

Photo: Franz Golhen

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Police on Thursday arrested the Staten Island driver who ran down and killed a Brooklyn pedestrian back in October — an interesting development because cops initially had said the victim was outside the crosswalk.

Nicholas Didio, 57, was charged this week with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care in killing 45-year-old Elina Sokolov at around 8:05 p.m. on Oct. 11 near the intersection of Nostrand and Emmons avenues in Sheepshead Bay.

According to police, Didio was driving his 2015 Dodge Durango westbound on Emmons Avenue and struck and then ran over Sokolov as he turned right onto Nostrand Avenue. Police said Sokolov was outside the crosswalk. The evening's heavy rain may have contributed to Didio's failure to see the pedestrian, who died later that day at Coney Island Hospital. Didio had remained on the scene.

A police spokeswoman said Didio was charged months later because it took some time for the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad to complete its review of video and other evidence.


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