A Canarsie man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly critically injuring a pedestrian as a result of drinking and driving, police said.
Louis Garcia, of Sunset Park, was attempting to cross the intersection of Glenwood Road and East 105th Street at around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 when he was struck by a vehicle and thrown to the pavement.
Paramedics attempted to treat Garcia at the scene before rushing the 68-year-old pedestrian to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center. He was later pronounced dead after suffering severe trauma to the head, an NYPD spokesperson said.
The driver of the vehicle, 47-year-old Gary Turner, remained at the scene following the incident.
According to a preliminary investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad, Turner was driving a 2017 Dodge Caravan westbound on Glenwood Road when he fatally struck Garcia in the crosswalk.
Officers from the 69th Precinct arrested Turner at the scene for drunk driving, and found that he allegedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.8%. Any driver who registers a BAC level of .08 or higher on a police-administered or court-authorized test is considered intoxicated.
Police later charged him with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, driving while intoxicated, driving while ability impaired, and equipment violation.
Since 2020, Turner’s license plate has been hit with 5 camera-issued speeding tickets, 7 license plate and registration related tickets, as well as 5 parking tickets, according to How’s My Driving NY.
There have been twelve crashes and fourteen injuries at the intersection of Glenwood Road and East 105th Street in Canarsie since 2014, per statistics compiled by NYC Crash Mapper.
During the month of December, there were more than 2,600 vehicle crashes in Brooklyn with “alcohol involvement” listed as a contributing factor to 52 of those incidents. Citywide, there were 8,027 crashes during the last month of 2023, with alcohol involvement flagged in 189 incidents, the NYPD reported.
