A Williamsburg driver has been charged with manslaughter in connection to a fatal car crash that left his passenger dead.
Brooklyn Paper reports that Michael Rivera, 31, appeared before Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday, where he was arraigned on manslaughter charges. He had been arrested in connection with the hit-and-run earlier this month, and now faces charges of “second-degree assault, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving, excessive speed, and failure to obey traffic control signal.”
On February 26, Rivera apparently blew through several stop lights in his unregistered Mercedes Benz and hit an MTA bus at the intersection at Harrison Avenue and Lorimer Street. The collision forced the bus onto the sidewalk, striking a Citi Bike kiosk. The impact ejected passenger Alex Caba-Gutierrez from the car. EMS removed him from the scene and took him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. It was apparently his 33rd birthday.
“According to the DA’s office, surveillance footage allegedly shows Rivera exiting his vehicle and walking up to Caba-Gutierrez where he lay on the sidewalk, before leaving him at the scene,” Brooklyn Paper reports.
EMS also transported the bus driver and a passenger to nearby hospitals in stable condition.
Rivera is set to appear in court in July, where he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Sadly, the South Williamsburg area has seen several traffic fatalities in recent months. Hours after the crash that killed Caba-Guitierrez, a cyclist was killed at Broadway and Lorimer Street. And just a few weeks ago, a driver fatally struck a 10-year-old girl only blocks away on Wallabout Street.