BRONX MAN INDICTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER FOR DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE AND COLLIDING INTO MTA BUS

Passenger in Defendant’s Car Was Killed in Crash

          Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been indicted on Manslaughter, Vehicular Manslaughter and additional charges for rear-ending an MTA bus, killing a passenger in his own car.

        District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant was allegedly under the influence and speeding when he slammed into an MTA bus, killing his front-seat 21-year-old passenger.  The defendant’s reckless actions cut short the life of a young man. Thankfully, none of the passengers in the bus, which had just picked up riders, were seriously injured.”

        District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Abraham Brown, 20, of 2562 Kingsland Avenue, was arraigned on October 4, 2021 on second-degree Manslaughter, second-degree Vehicular Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide, two counts of Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol, two counts of Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs, and Reckless Driving before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Michael Gross. The defendant is due back in court on January 18, 2022.

        According to the investigation, at approximately 11:11 p.m. on February 13, 2021, the defendant was driving with front-seat passenger, Jermaine Paul, 21, on Bartow Avenue and Co-op City Boulevard at 57 miles an hour instead of the 25 mile-per-hour speed limit.  The defendant allegedly did not apply the brakes and rear-ended an MTA bus that had just picked up passengers at the time. Paul suffered multiple blunt injuries and was pronounced dead less than an hour after the incident at Jacobi Medical Center. Brown was allegedly driving while intoxicated and under the influence of marijuana.

          The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Kimelman, Chief of the Vehicular Crimes Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Gay of Trial Bureau 30, under the supervision of James Brennan, Deputy Chief of the Trial Division, and Theresa Gottlieb, Chief of the Trial Division. District Attorney Clark thanked Trial Preparation Assistant Jamece Hill of the Vehicular Crimes Unit, and NYPD Detective Randal McFarland of the Collision Investigation Squad for their assistance in the investigation.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.