Driver leaving Queens parking lot fatally hit Thomas Soong
A driver leaving a Flushing restaurant parking lot hit 88-year-old Thomas Soong on Northern Boulevard; he died three days later.
What We Know
Thomas Soong, 88, was crossing Northern Boulevard near 147th Street in Flushing on March 11, 2022, when a 52-year-old driver leaving a restaurant parking lot hit him, police told reporters. The city crash record lists one pedestrian killed and one sedan involved at 9:25 p.m. Soong suffered a head injury, was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens in serious condition, and died on March 14. Police told reporters the driver stayed at the scene and was not charged or arrested. The official record lists both pedestrian error or confusion and failure to yield, while amNY reported that police could not say where they got the detail that Soong was outside a marked crosswalk.
Police said the driver was leaving a parking lot
The city crash record places the fatal crash at Northern Boulevard and 147th Street in Queens at 9:25 p.m. on March 11, 2022. Police told reporters that a 52-year-old driver was leaving the Butcher’s Cut Korean restaurant parking lot when he hit Thomas Soong as Soong crossed mid-block.
Soong suffered a head injury and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens in serious condition. He died on March 14, three days after the crash.
Thomas Soong was remembered as active and close to home
Soong was 88. Neighbors told the Daily News he was near his home, lived alone in a three-story building he owned, and often went out to walk or swim at the YMCA.
Records and press accounts describe the driver’s movement differently
The official vehicle record lists one sedan, a 2018 Honda car or SUV, with a licensed male driver and one occupant. It describes the driver as traveling east and going straight ahead.
Press accounts based on police statements said the driver was leaving a restaurant parking lot. The Daily News reported that the driver was making a left turn out of the lot, while amNY reported that the driver crossed the double-yellow line and painted median to make a left turn before hitting Soong.
The record lists failure to yield, but one detail was questioned
The official fatal-person record lists pedestrian error or confusion and failure to yield as contributing factors. amNY reported that police said Soong was crossing in the middle of the block and outside a marked crosswalk, but a police spokesperson could not say where that detail came from.
The driver stayed, and police reported no arrest or charge
Police told the Daily News that the 52-year-old driver remained at the scene and was not charged. amNY reported that police had made no arrests, and the Daily News said the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad was still investigating.
Northern Boulevard has seen repeated harm in Queens
The crash was recorded at Northern Boulevard and 147th Street in Queens, in the 11354 ZIP code.
CrashCountNYC’s location context for Northern Boulevard in Queens counts 3,399 crashes, 2,139 injuries, 137 serious injuries and 11 deaths since 2022.