Driver Charged After Boy Dies in East Elmhurst Hit-and-Run
A driver making a left turn at 100th Street and McIntosh Street in Queens hit and killed 5-year-old pedestrian Jonathan Martinez on Sept. 1, 2022, and police later charged Xavier Carchipull in the hit-and-run.
What We Know
On Sept. 1, 2022, a driver making a left turn at 100th Street and McIntosh Street in Queens hit 5-year-old pedestrian Jonathan Martinez, who died after being taken to Elmhurst Hospital. Police and press accounts described the driver as leaving the scene. The city crash record identifies the vehicle as a 2018 Dodge pickup and records one pedestrian death. Weeks later, police arrested Xavier Carchipull and charged him with leaving the scene resulting in death and several vehicle-related offenses. News accounts agree the child was crossing with family, but they differ on the exact family members present and on the street-by-street description of the turn.
A left turn as a family crossed
The crash happened at about 5:28 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2022, at 100th Street and McIntosh Street in Queens. The city crash record says a driver in a 2018 Dodge pickup was making a left turn, and that the right front bumper was the point of impact. The record lists Jonathan Martinez, 5, as a pedestrian at the intersection and records one death.
Police and news accounts described a hit-and-run. The New York Post reported that a driver in a white Dodge pickup turned onto the East Elmhurst block and hit Jonathan as he crossed with his parents. The Daily News reported that video showed a driver in a white Dodge Ram pickup turning left onto McIntosh Street, hitting the child and continuing from the scene.
The corner sits on a heavily crashed Queens corridor
The fatal crash was recorded at 100th Street and McIntosh Street in Queens, in the East Elmhurst area. CrashCountNYC location data for 100th Street in Queens shows 194 crashes, 103 injuries, 7 serious injuries and 2 deaths since 2022.
Jonathan Martinez was 5 years old
Police identified the child as Jonathan Martinez. News accounts said he lived nearby and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after suffering severe head and torso trauma.
Accounts agree that Jonathan was crossing with family, but they differ on who was with him. The New York Post first reported that he was with his parents, then later reported that he was on his way home from a park with his father and three siblings. The Daily News reported that his father held his hand and that a 10-year-old boy was present; a later Daily News account said he was crossing with his father and two siblings.
His father asked the driver to surrender
Richard Martinez, identified by the New York Post as Jonathan's father, pleaded for the driver to turn himself in and said in Spanish that he forgave him. Jonathan's mother, Jennifer Erez, told the Daily News after the arrest that the family wanted justice and was grateful police had taken the suspect into custody.
Police arrested a Queens man weeks later
Both later accounts said police believed Carchipull was behind the wheel. The Daily News reported that police had identified him early and tried to negotiate with him before warrant officers arrested him at his Astoria home.