Oil-truck driver charged after Upper East Side pedestrian death
A city crash record says a driver backing a tanker at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street killed a 44-year-old pedestrian; prosecutors said Vincent Spano left after checking on Terrill Jenkins.
What We Know
Official crash records place the crash around half past 4 AM on March 20, 2026, at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street in Manhattan, where a 44-year-old pedestrian was killed. The records list a tanker, the driver backing before impact, and unsafe backing as a contributing factor; the pedestrian record says Jenkins was crossing against the signal. Prosecutors said Spano backed an oil truck through the intersection and over Jenkins in the crosswalk, checked on him, and left; police said he later turned himself in and was charged. Public accounts do not fully align on the truck’s path: early reports described a southbound driver, while official crash records list northbound travel and backing.
A backing maneuver at Lexington and 61st turned fatal
The city crash record places the crash at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street in Manhattan at 4:40 a.m. on March 20, 2026, and records one pedestrian killed. The record lists a tanker, traveling north and backing before the crash, with backing unsafely recorded for the driver.
Prosecutors later said Vincent Spano backed an oil truck through the intersection and hit Terrill Jenkins, who was in the crosswalk. The Daily News reported from a criminal complaint that Spano then drove forward, stopped, checked on Jenkins, got back in the truck and left.
Terrill Jenkins was headed to work
Terrill Jenkins was 44 and lived in Harlem, according to police cited by the Daily News. A later Daily News account said he was heading to a Home Depot job three blocks from the crash site.
ABC7 quoted a nearby shop worker who said the early-morning death was sad and reflected someone going home from a shift. East Side Feed reported that a passerby, Charlie Reyes, stayed with Jenkins after finding him in the street.
Records and reports point to unsafe backing, with some details differing
The city crash record lists backing unsafely for the tanker driver. It also records that the pedestrian was at the intersection, crossing against the signal, with traffic control disregarded listed for him.
News accounts did not align on every detail. Early police-based reports described a southbound vehicle, and one Daily News article called it a car. Later Daily News reporting based on a criminal complaint described a dark-green and red oil truck backing through the intersection, while the city record identifies a tanker.
Spano turned himself in and faced fatal hit-and-run charges
The Daily News reported that a Manhattan Criminal Court judge granted supervised release after prosecutors sought bail, and that Spano was due back in court on May 6. East Side Feed, citing public court records, reported that Spano pleaded not guilty and was released with non-monetary conditions.
Lexington Avenue has seen repeated serious harm
The crash was recorded at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side. That corner is part of the Lexington Avenue corridor in Manhattan.
CrashCountNYC's location context shows 1,473 crashes, 816 injuries, 51 serious injuries and 3 deaths on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan from 2022 through June 1, 2026.