Driver charged after Bronx car wash worker killed on Webster Avenue
A city crash record says a driver’s inattention contributed to a fatal Webster Avenue crash, and police later accused Trina Bryant of driving into car wash worker Felix Thomas Bontia and leaving the scene.
What We Know
On Feb. 19, 2023, the city crash record logged a fatal pedestrian crash on Webster Avenue in the Bronx at 5:24 a.m., with one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured. News reports, citing police and surveillance footage, said Felix Thomas Bontia, 47, was drying a customer's Toyota RAV4 outside a 24-hour car wash when a driver in a 2011 Ford Escape entered the bus lane and hit him and the Toyota. Police later accused Trina Bryant of driving the Ford, leaving the scene with a passenger, and remaining at large until her 2025 arrest. She was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene; the Post also reported a vehicular manslaughter charge and said she pleaded not guilty.
Bontia was working outside the car wash before dawn
The crash happened on Webster Avenue at about 5:24 a.m. on Feb. 19, 2023. The city record lists one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured.
News reports identified the pedestrian as Felix Thomas Bontia, a 47-year-old car wash worker. Police said he was drying a customer's Toyota RAV4 outside the 24-hour car wash when a driver in a Ford Escape entered the bus lane and hit him and the Toyota. Bontia was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Reports placed the crash on Webster Avenue, with some block-level differences
The official record lists the crash on Webster Avenue in the Bronx. News reports placed the car wash on Webster Avenue near East 167th Street or near East 168th Street, and used different neighborhood labels, including Concourse Village, Claremont and Morrisania.
The Daily News reported that Bontia was wiping down the driver's side of the Toyota after it pulled out of the car wash into a bus lane. A manager told the paper the street was empty at that hour.
A worker, a customer and two people in the Ford were involved
Bontia was 47 and from Allerton, amNewYork reported. The Daily News quoted car wash manager Milton Cardenas saying Bontia was a quiet, good worker and had family in Mexico and two children.
Police said the Toyota driver, reported as a 58-year-old man, suffered minor injuries and was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.
amNewYork reported that the Ford driver and a passenger left the scene on foot. After Bryant's arrest in 2025, the Post reported that the passenger had not been caught by that Thursday.
The impact involved the customer’s Toyota and a parked Nissan
The city record lists a 2011 Ford SUV traveling south before the crash, with front-end damage, and a 2017 Toyota SUV that was parked before the crash. It also lists a parked 2014 Nissan sedan with no occupants.
Police told reporters the force of the impact pushed the Toyota into the Nissan. The Post reported that Bryant's Ford came to a final rest about a block away before she and a front passenger got out and ran off.
Police and records pointed to driver conduct
The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor for the crash. The vehicle entry for the southbound Ford also lists unsafe speed.
Cardenas told the Daily News that the driver ran a red light and was going over 60 mph. Those details were attributed to Cardenas in the article, while the official record cited inattention or distraction and unsafe speed.
Bryant was arrested more than two years later
In July 2025, police arrested Trina Bryant, 32, and accused her of driving the Ford Escape in the fatal hit-and-run. The Daily News reported charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident; the Post reported those charges and vehicular manslaughter.
The Post reported that Bryant pleaded not guilty at arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court and was ordered held on bail or bond.