Driver Charged After Fatal Jerome Avenue Pedestrian Crash
A 60-year-old pedestrian was killed on Jerome Avenue in Morris Heights on Feb. 13, 2022, and police later charged Steven Castillo with leaving the scene.
What We Know
Antonio Martin, 60, was killed just before 7 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2022, on Jerome Avenue near Featherbed Lane in Morris Heights. The city crash record lists him as a pedestrian killed at an intersection and records two sedans involved. The Daily News first reported that a 21-year-old BMW driver stayed at the scene and that no charges were immediate. In a later account, police said Steven Castillo, 26, was driving a Honda Accord, hit Martin as he crossed Jerome Avenue, left before officers arrived, and was identified through surveillance video. Police said a second driver in a black BMW GT5 sedan then hit Martin and remained at the scene. Castillo was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
Police later described a two-driver sequence
The city crash record says one pedestrian was killed at 6:58 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2022, on Jerome Avenue. It lists the pedestrian as a 60-year-old man at an intersection and records two sedans involved.
Antonio Martin was identified after the crash
Police initially withheld the pedestrian's name. The later Daily News report identified him as Antonio Martin, 60, and said he lived at a homeless shelter in Hunts Point, about two miles from where he was killed.
The article identified Castillo as a 26-year-old Bronx motorist from Mount Eden, less than a mile from the crash site. Police said the BMW driver was a 21-year-old man who stayed at the scene.
Records and reports list a Honda and a BMW
The city crash record lists a 2009 Honda sedan traveling north and a 2010 BMW sedan traveling south, with both drivers recorded as licensed. The later Daily News account said Castillo was driving a Honda Accord and that the second driver was in a black BMW GT5 sedan.
The official vehicle entries list left-front-bumper damage for the Honda entry and no damage for the BMW entry.
Investigators used video and filed a charge
The Daily News reported that police used surveillance video to determine what happened. Castillo was arrested on March 2, 2022, and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
The city crash record lists tinted windows and an obstructed or limited view in the Honda entry, and pedestrian error or confusion in Martin's person entry. Those entries appear in the crash record alongside the later criminal allegation reported by police.
The crash happened near Featherbed Lane in Morris Heights
The crash was recorded on Jerome Avenue, and the Daily News placed it near Featherbed Lane in Morris Heights. The first report described Martin's body remaining under an NYPD tarp in the lot of a nearby Sunoco gas station hours after the crash.