A 23-year-old man was finally arrested in the Brooklyn vehicular killing last June of a woman on a motorized scooter, NYPD said Tuesday.
Bernadine Lewis, 43, of Brooklyn, was riding on Throop Avenue early morning last June 24 when Mike Josie struck her with a dark colored Hyundai sedan and kept driving, police said in a statement.
Josie was arrested nearly 10 months after the initial crash. Cops charged him with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene and reckless driving. His vehicle was also caught by enforcement cameras blowing a red light and speeding, which the tabloids said helped cops eventually nab him.
Hit-and-runs can be tough to crack for investigators. First, cops have to find the vehicle, then they have to prove who was behind the wheel. Further complicating matters, hit-and-run drivers often flee because they are intoxicated and want to avoid stricter penalties for drunk driving.
A driver who flees the scene of a crash resulting in death could get up to seven years in jail — compared to a maximum 15 years in prison for killing someone while driving drunk, as Streetsblog has reported.
In the case of Josie, cops apparently weren't able to find evidence that he was drunk, despite what the Daily News called an "exhaustive" investigation.
In other news:
- Lewis' friends celebrated her killer's arrest: “We don’t let her soul go." (Daily News)
- A parking garage collapsed in lower Manhattan, killing one person. (NYT, Gothamist, NY Post)
- "We can’t wait forever." MTA CEO Janno Lieber is growing tired of Albany dawdling amid the MTA budget crisis. (Bloomberg)
- ... while the MTA may have to pay $500,000 a year to continue posting service updates on Elon Musk's Twitter. (Bloomberg, Curbed)
- TODAY IN WTF: Fare enforcement turns into violent chaos after bus departs, customer opens fire. (NY Post, Daily News, Gothamist)
- Vanderbilt Open Streets meets its match: routine underground utility work. (Grub Street)
- The Times dove into the plight of delivery workers and their need for safe charging.
- [Melle Mel voice] "Brooklyn glass, everywhere!" (The City)
- Step inside the wonderful world of the 34th Avenue Open Street with City Limits.
- Citi Bike has made a wonderful addition to Crown Heights, so naturally Crown Heights made a wonderful addition to Citi Bike. (COL Live)
