NYPD officer drives over man in Queens park; AG declines charges
Ulises
NYPD Officer Devone drove over 38-year-old pedestrian Erasmo Huerta Gonzalez in a Queens park on Aug. 23, 2025; investigators reported that she held lip gloss while driving, but the attorney general declined to seek charges.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
NYPD Officer Devone was driving west on United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows Corona Park when she drove over Erasmo Huerta Gonzalez, 38, who was lying in the roadway. Two Mets employees had alerted a police sergeant about him shortly before the crash, but reporting on the attorney general's investigation says it is unclear whether Devone received the warning. Gonzalez died at a hospital. The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. Investigators reported that Devone held lip gloss while driving but concluded they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime. The attorney general's office declined to seek charges.
The crash occurred on a park road during the U.S. Open.
The crash occurred near 14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in front of the Queens Theatre and across from the Unisphere. During the U.S. Open, that stretch of road was closed to drivers other than law enforcement and parks staff.
People warned police before the officer reached Gonzalez.
The official record places the collision at 4:39 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2025; news accounts put it at about 4:37 p.m. Officer Devone was driving west in a marked 2015 Ford Taurus patrol car with another officer when she drove over Gonzalez, who was lying in the roadway.
Two Mets employees had sent a police sergeant a photo of Gonzalez shortly before the crash. Reporting on the attorney general's investigation says it is unclear whether the officers in the car received that warning. The Queens Daily Eagle reported that bystanders and a nearby police lieutenant tried to get Devone to stop.
Gonzalez died after medics took him to a hospital.
Erasmo Huerta Gonzalez was 38. Medics took him to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Streetsblog reported that he moved from Mexico to the United States in 2012, had a teenage son and loved soccer.
Investigators examined distraction but did not seek charges.
The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. Reporting on the attorney general's investigation says Devone held a lip gloss tube in one hand and an applicator in the other. Investigators said there was no indication that the items prevented her from steering.
The attorney general's office concluded that a prosecutor could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Devone committed a crime. It declined to seek criminal charges.