Driver indicted after Williamsburg crash kills passenger
A sedan driver disregarded a traffic signal at Harrison Avenue and Lorimer Street on Feb. 26, 2024, the official record says; prosecutors later charged Michael Rivera in the death of passenger Alex Caba-Gutierrez.
What We Know
According to the police report, a bus driver traveling east on Lorimer Street disregarded traffic control at Harrison Avenue and hit the right side of a southbound sedan. The impact ejected a 32-year-old man from the sedan’s right rear seat into the roadway, where he died. Police listed “Traffic Control Disregarded” as a contributing factor by the bus driver. The crash occurred on a Monday evening after dark, and the bus was recorded as an oversized vehicle.
Police and prosecutors described a red-light collision
The official crash record places the collision at 9:46 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2024, at Harrison Avenue and Lorimer Street in Brooklyn. It lists one person killed and two motorists injured, with traffic control disregarded as a contributing factor.
Brooklyn Paper reported that police said the Mercedes-Benz driver ran a steady red light and hit an MTA bus in the intersection. Prosecutors later identified the driver as Michael Rivera and alleged he was speeding and had run multiple red lights before the impact.
Alex Caba-Gutierrez was a rear-seat passenger
The official record identifies the person killed as a male rear-seat passenger. Brooklyn Paper identified him as Alex Caba-Gutierrez and reported that first responders found him with severe injuries after he was ejected from the back seat. He was taken to NYC Health+Hospitals/Bellevue, where he was pronounced dead.
The official record lists Caba-Gutierrez as 32. Brooklyn Paper and prosecutors described him as 33, and the later article reported that the crash happened on his 33rd birthday.
The crash happened on a Lorimer Street corridor with repeated injuries
The fatal collision happened at Harrison Avenue and Lorimer Street in Brooklyn. CrashCountNYC location context for Lorimer Street in Brooklyn records 287 crashes, 157 injuries, 13 serious injuries and 4 deaths since 2022.
That history makes the intersection part of a corridor where fatal and serious harm has continued beyond this single crash.
Rivera was indicted months later
Brooklyn Paper reported that the Mercedes driver and another passenger left the scene after the crash. In May, prosecutors said Rivera had been arrested and arraigned on an eight-count indictment.