Hit-and-Run Driver Fatally Hits Bronx Pedestrian at Melrose
A hit-and-run driver hit 53-year-old Lourdes Camilo at Melrose Avenue and East 157th Street in the Bronx on Jan. 13, 2024, where the official record shows one pedestrian was killed and press accounts said she was thrown into a second Jeep driver’s path.
What We Know
On Jan. 13, 2024, Lourdes Camilo, 53, was at Melrose Avenue near East 157th Street in the Bronx when a driver hit her and left the scene, according to press accounts citing police. Those reports said the impact threw her into southbound traffic, where a second Jeep driver also hit her and stayed at the scene. The city crash record logged one pedestrian death at the intersection, recorded the pedestrian as crossing against the signal, and listed traffic-control disregard and pedestrian error or confusion for the pedestrian. The same record identifies two Jeep drivers traveling in opposite directions and lists driver inattention or distraction for the northbound Jeep entry. Reviewed articles reported no arrests at publication time.
Reports described a hit-and-run followed by a second impact
Both articles reported that Camilo was thrown into southbound traffic, where a second Jeep driver hit her. They reported that the second driver, a 53-year-old man, stayed at the scene.
Melrose Avenue has a record of serious harm
The crash happened at Melrose Avenue and East 157th Street in the Bronx’s 10451 zip code.
On Melrose Avenue in the Bronx, CrashCountNYC Crash Finder counted 330 crashes, 251 injuries, 14 serious injuries and 4 deaths since 2022.
Lourdes Camilo died near home
amNY identified Camilo as a 53-year-old Bronx woman and Melrose resident who was hit steps from her home. First responders found her unconscious and unresponsive with severe traumatic injuries, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the reviewed reports.
Records and articles do not align on every Jeep detail
Press accounts said the first driver was in a white Jeep SUV traveling north and the second driver was in a Jeep traveling south. The official vehicle entries list a northbound 2021 Jeep as a sedan and a southbound 2014 Jeep as a sport utility vehicle. That difference leaves the exact body style of the northbound Jeep in conflict across the public sources.
The official record lists signal disregard and driver inattention
The city crash record listed Camilo as crossing against the signal and assigned traffic-control disregard and pedestrian error or confusion to the pedestrian entry. For the northbound Jeep entry, the record listed driver inattention or distraction.
The reviewed articles said the hit-and-run driver had not been caught and that no arrests had been made as of publication.