Driver in Nissan Fatally Hit Jose Hernandez in Sunset Park
A driver in a sedan fatally hit 66-year-old pedestrian Jose Hernandez on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park on Oct. 22, 2022, and police later identified the 54-year-old motorist, news reports said.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Jose Hernandez, 66, died after a driver in a sedan hit him on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park on Oct. 22, 2022. The official crash record lists the crash at 6:43 p.m., records one pedestrian death, and cites driver inattention or distraction. Police told reporters Hernandez was crossing midblock between 58th and 59th streets when he fell in the roadway; a southbound driver in a Nissan Altima hit him and did not remain at the scene. Reports said police later found the car and identified a 54-year-old driver, with no charges filed or expected as of the next day while the investigation continued.
Police said the driver left after the fatal impact
The official crash record places the collision on Fourth Avenue at 6:43 p.m. on Oct. 22, 2022, records one pedestrian death, and lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. The sedan was recorded traveling south and going straight before the crash.
Police told reporters that Jose Hernandez, 66, was crossing midblock between 58th and 59th streets when he fell in the roadway. Reports identified the driver as a 54-year-old man in a Nissan Altima who was heading south on Fourth Avenue and did not remain at the scene.
Medics took Hernandez to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he died. Police later found the car and identified the driver, and reports said no charges had been filed or were expected as the investigation continued.
Fourth Avenue, between 58th and 59th streets
The crash was reported on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, between 58th and 59th streets. News reports described the location as near the busy corner of Fourth Avenue and 59th Street, close to Od’s Restaurant.
The Daily News reported that Hernandez lived a few hundred feet from the crash site and was heading to Od’s Restaurant before the collision.
Neighbors remembered Jose Hernandez as a fixture on the block
Yayo Rodriguez, owner of Od’s Restaurant, told the Daily News that he had known Hernandez since 1986 and called him “a very close friend and customer. A good guy. Everybody liked him, loved him.”
A neighbor told the paper Hernandez often cleaned the sidewalk and helped people nearby. “It was shocking,” the neighbor said. “He was a fixture. I’ve known him since I was 11.” Hernandez’s son, Gilberto Hernandez, described his father as a cancer survivor.
Reports differed as police identified the driver
The official record lists a sedan and describes front-end impact and damage. CBS News reported that police identified the car as a 2015 Nissan Altima and later identified the 54-year-old driver.
Early coverage did not all describe the investigation the same way: the New York Post reported an unknown gray vehicle, and ABC7 said police were searching for the driver, while CBS News, amNewYork, and the Daily News reported that police later found the car or driver.