Police arrested Akilo Cadogan in connection with a fatal Brooklyn hit-and-run
The Whole World
Police later arrested Akilo Cadogan in connection with a fatal crash at Morgan and Johnson avenues at 11:30 p.m. on March 9, 2023; authorities alleged he hit cyclist Eugene Schroeder while turning right onto Johnson Avenue and left.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Authorities alleged Akilo Cadogan hit cyclist Eugene Schroeder while turning right onto Johnson Avenue and left the scene. Reports differ on whether Schroeder had stopped and whether the other vehicle was a car or a truck; Cadogan pleaded not guilty to leaving an accident resulting in death.
Police accounts describe a right turn and a hit-and-run.
AmNewYork reported that a preliminary police account placed Schroeder in Morgan Avenue's marked bike lane, stopped beside a vehicle believed to be a truck. Police said the driver turned right onto westbound Johnson Avenue, hit Schroeder and continued without stopping. Reports say EMS took Schroeder to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Accounts differ about Schroeder's movement before impact. The city record lists the bicycle as going straight, while press reports describe him as stopped; Streetsblog placed the stop at a stop sign, and 1010 WINS said it was at a traffic light. Vehicle descriptions also differ: CBS described a car, early reports said the vehicle was possibly a truck, Gothamist later reported police identified a 2012 Volvo truck, and the city record classifies the truck as a diesel tractor truck.
The city record and contemporaneous reporting date the crash to March 9, 2023, at 11:30 p.m. Gothamist's 2024 report gives March 10, 2023.
The crash happened where Morgan Avenue meets Johnson Avenue.
The city record places the collision at Morgan Avenue and Johnson Avenue. Contemporaneous reports identify the area as East Williamsburg, while Gothamist describes it as Bushwick. Police accounts placed Schroeder in the marked bike lane on Morgan Avenue before the driver turned onto Johnson Avenue.
Schroeder was a DJ remembered by his husband.
Schroeder, 56, worked as a DJ at Manhattan nightclubs including Ritz, Therapy and Barrage, according to Gothamist; CBS also reported that he worked nights as a DJ. His husband, John Rappaport, told Gothamist that they had been together for 17 years and that Schroeder cared for him because of his disability. They shared two cats. Rappaport remembered Schroeder as “the most special person in the whole world.”
Cadogan was arrested nearly a year later.
Gothamist reported that police arrested Akilo Cadogan, 34, of Queens nearly a year after the crash. Court records showed he was charged with leaving an accident resulting in death, and he pleaded not guilty.
Rappaport told Gothamist that he wanted justice and had hoped for more severe charges.