Update: New Year, Same Carnage: Two Killed In Separate Hit-and-Runs
Two hit-and-run drivers killed pedestrians — one in Queens and the other in the Bronx — in separate incidents in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.
In both cases, the NYPD offered only sparse preliminary information: The first deadly crash was just about an hour into the new year when a driver struck a 68-year-old man on Linden Boulevard at Ashford Street in East New York.
The victim’s name was not immediately released. Cops said he was crossing against the pedestrian signal and that the driver was long gone by the time EMTs took the victim to Brookdale Medical, where he died.
About three hours later, the driver of an SUV struck two men in Queens and kept on driving even as one of the men died and the other was gravely injured, police and a local politician said.
The victims, in their 20s, were on 37th Avenue and crossing 102nd Street in Corona just after 4:05 a.m. when the driver of a white SUV struck both pedestrians as he drove southbound on 102nd Street.
One man, whose age and name were not immediately released, died on the scene. His companion, 24, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition.
The driver of the SUV did not stop. Cops said the investigation is ongoing.
The two victims are the first road fatalities of 2026. There are roughly 230 reported crashes in New York City every day. On New Year’s Day 2025, there were 184 reported crashes, injuring eight cyclists, nine pedestrians and 98 motorists, according to city data.
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