A truck driver has been charged in the hit-and-run that killed an off-duty police officer on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Aug. 27.
Carlos Toribio, a 30-year-old Manhattan resident, was arrested on Wednesday evening, police said, hours after the fiery crash. He was charged with leaving the scene of a crash that resulted in death as well as driving an unregistered vehicle and driving without a license plate.
According to the NYPD, the officer, whose name has not yet been released, was riding his motorcycle on the westbound BQE when he collided with the truck near Exit 27 in Cobble Hill just before 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 27. The officer was thrown from the motorcycle, which went up in flames, video of the incident shows, and Toribio fled — possibly without realizing he had hit anyone, per the New York Post.
Paramedics declared the officer dead on the scene.
According to Post, the victim was 30 years old and heading home from a late-night shift at Downtown Brooklyn’s 84th Precinct at the time of the crash.
“Devastated by the loss of our brother following an off-duty motorcycle crash in Brooklyn this morning,” the Police Benevolent Association said in an Aug. 27 social media post.”Please join us in praying for his family, friends and co-workers as they deal with this unimaginable loss.”
