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Second hit-and-run driver in 24 hours kills man beneath Gowanus Expressway

Hamilton and court
The intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Court Street.
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A driver fatally struck a man before leaving the scene at the border of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook on Wednesday evening, marking the second deadly hit-and-run that day in the borough, according to police.

The victim, 31-year-old Imorne Horton of Red Hook, was crossing Hamilton Avenue beneath the elevated Gowanus Expressway at Court Street when a motorist heading west plowed into him and drove off, according to the Police Department.

Authorities rushed to the scene just before 6:40 pm, and paramedics brought the bloodied victim to Methodist Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. 

A subsequent investigation showed that the car hit the pedestrian in the right center lane of the four-lane avenue. A police spokesman couldn’t confirm whether he was outside of the crossing stripes when he was struck. 

The spokesman also couldn’t say whether the driver or the walker had the light, noting that the Department’s reports are still preliminary.

Police have not made any arrests and are investigating the incident, according to the Department rep.

Some 35 people have been injured in 24 crashes at the intersection at the Carroll Gardens-Red Hook border over the past decade, according to NYC Crash Mapper

In response to the treacherous stretch of roadway, the Department of Transportation lowered the speed limit from 30 to 25 miles-per-hour on a 1.9 span of Hamilton Avenue from Luquer to 18th streets in early 2020, aiming to calm traffic on the heavily-trafficked eight-lane thoroughfare.

The fatal hit-and-run was the second of that day, coming after a school bus driver fatally struck 6-year-old Williamsburg boy Shimon Fried outside his S. Fifth Street home around 8:30 am.

The City Council was also holding a hearing Wednesday about a proposed bill to transfer oversight of crash investigations from NYPD to DOT, after cops made arrests in less than 1 percent of cases in 2020.