Queens driver indicted after fatal Williamsburg crosswalk crash.
Daniel K. Buckley, whom prosecutors identified as the driver, allegedly struck pedestrian Leah Kohn in a marked crosswalk at Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Brooklyn at 5:46 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2022, then left without stopping; the official record lists one pedestrian killed.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Prosecutors alleged Buckley drove from the Brooklyn Navy Yard across Kent Avenue into oncoming traffic and turned onto Taylor Street to avoid two vehicles before striking Kohn in a marked crosswalk and leaving without stopping. Accounts differ on the turn: a March 9 Brooklyn Paper report described both a U-turn and a left turn, while the official record lists a left turn. 1010 WINS reported that Kohn died at Bellevue on Dec. 17, 2022, from complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
Reports differ on the turn before the collision.
1010 WINS reported that prosecutors said Buckley drove from the Brooklyn Navy Yard across Kent Avenue into oncoming traffic and turned onto Taylor Street to avoid two vehicles before allegedly striking Kohn in the crosswalk and driving away without stopping.
A March 9 Brooklyn Paper account described the maneuver as an illegal U-turn after Buckley drove the wrong way on Kent Avenue, but later in the same story described an illegal left turn. The paper's March 10 report called it an illegal turn; the official record lists a left turn.
The collision happened at a Williamsburg intersection.
The official record places the crash at Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. Press reports identify the area as Williamsburg and say Kohn was crossing in a marked crosswalk.
Kohn was a grandmother and longtime school secretary.
Leah Kohn, 59, was a grandmother and longtime secretary at Bais Rochel, a Jewish high school in Williamsburg, according to El Diario. Shore News Network described her as a member of Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community.
1010 WINS reported that Kohn died at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue on Dec. 17, 2022, from complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
Brooklyn Paper and 1010 WINS identified Buckley as a 67-year-old Queens resident and reported that he worked as a truck operator for the television series The Blacklist.
Reports name an Envoy; the official record uses a combined vehicle category.
Press accounts identified the vehicle Buckley was driving as a 2005 GMC Envoy. The official record classifies it as a Station Wagon/Sport Utility Vehicle and records a left turn before the collision.
The indictment included manslaughter and traffic charges.
Brooklyn Paper and 1010 WINS reported that Buckley was indicted on second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, three counts of leaving the scene without reporting, and traffic charges including failure to yield and violating a pedestrian's right of way in a crosswalk. These were charges, not findings of guilt.