Driver faces charges after Queens highway worker dies in hit-and-run.
For her mother
Prosecutors say Daveanand Budhai struck and killed flag worker Isabel Alvarez in a Nassau Expressway work zone on Sept. 19, 2025, then left the scene; the official record puts the crash at 7:28 a.m.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Prosecutors say Daveanand Budhai drove through a marked construction zone near Exit 1N on Sept. 19, 2025, struck flag worker Isabel Alvarez and left the scene. The official record puts the crash at 7:28 a.m. and records Alvarez's death and one motorist injury. A criminal complaint charged Budhai with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and leaving the scene without reporting a death; a Queens grand jury later indicted him. The official record says the sedan was traveling west, while prosecutors describe Budhai driving east.
The work zone was beside an expressway ramp.
Police said Alvarez was in a safety zone between an exit ramp and the eastbound lanes of the Nassau Expressway in Queens. Prosecutors placed the construction site near Exit 1N, which feeds into the Van Wyck Expressway, and said traffic drums and signs marked a closed lane.
Prosecutors describe a driver entering the closed lane.
According to prosecutors, Budhai drove into traffic drums and struck Alvarez, who was working as a flag person. They allege that he drove away afterward. Emergency responders pronounced Alvarez dead at the scene. The official record also records one injured motorist.
The sources disagree on the driver's direction.
Prosecutors describe Budhai driving a white 2018 Infiniti Q50S eastbound toward Exit 1N. The official crash record identifies a 2018 Infiniti sedan but lists its travel direction as west.
Alvarez was a highway worker from the Bronx.
Isabel Alvarez, 44, lived in the Longwood section of the Bronx and worked as a flag person directing traffic around the construction zone. State transportation commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez called her "our fallen colleague" in a statement about workers' safety.
Investigators and prosecutors cited speed.
The official crash record lists unsafe speed and disregarding a traffic control for the sedan's driver. Prosecutors allege that Budhai approached the ramp at a high speed; they said the posted speed for the ramp was 25 mph.
Budhai faced charges after police located him.
Police identified Daveanand Budhai, 25, after officers located him near South Conduit Avenue and 134th Street. A criminal complaint charged him with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, leaving the scene without reporting a death and related crimes. A Queens grand jury later indicted him in connection with Alvarez's death.