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UPDATE: Drunk, Unlicensed Driver Killed Pedestrian in Downtown Brooklyn: Cops

11:19 PM EST on November 22, 2020

File photo: Dave Colon

An unlicensed and drunk driver ran down and killed a woman steps from her home on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn on Sunday night, cops said.

According to police, Jasen Nhambiu, 49, was drunk when he drove his Hyundai Sonata westbound on Atlantic at around 7:45 p.m. then slammed into Alina Morales, 62, between Third Avenue and Nevins Street. Nhambiu remained on the scene while Morales was taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center in nearby Fort Greene, where she died.

Cops later charged the driver with four serious crimes: driving while intoxicated, refusal to take a breath test, driving without a license, aggravated unlicensed operator (an additional charge because of the alcohol). It is very rare for cops to charge drivers who remain on the scene unless they have committed a second crime, beyond the crash, such as drinking or driving with a suspended license. Indeed, before the charges against Nhambiu had been announced, the only detail police initially released was that Morales had been crossing the wide, dangerous, four-lane speedway "mid-block."

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