Driver Charged After Jenny Chacho Sanchez Killed in Crosswalk
After the School Drop-Off
Police said William Cruz, 49, hit Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez with a box truck while turning left at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue on April 17, killing a pedestrian whom the city record says was crossing with the signal.
What We Know
Police said William Cruz, a 49-year-old driver from Carteret, N.J., was turning a box truck left from St. Nicholas Avenue onto Gates Avenue on the morning of April 17 when he hit Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez in the crosswalk. The city crash record put the crash at 8:26 a.m., recorded the pedestrian as crossing with the signal, and listed driver failure to yield and inattention as factors. Reporters later wrote that Chacho Sanchez had just dropped off her 6-year-old daughter and was going to work. Police initially reported no arrest; by April 30, Cruz had been arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian causing injury and failure to exercise due care.
A left turn at a morning crosswalk
The city crash record says the crash happened at 8:26 a.m. on April 17 at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue. It recorded one pedestrian killed and listed the box truck’s pre-crash movement as a left turn.
Police and news reports identified the driver as William Cruz, 49. Investigators said Cruz was driving northbound on St. Nicholas Avenue and turning left onto Gates Avenue when he hit Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez in the crosswalk.
A Brooklyn border location described several ways
The city record places the crash in Brooklyn at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue. News coverage described the same intersection in different neighborhood terms, including Bushwick, Ridgewood, Queens, and the Brooklyn-Queens border.
Streetsblog reported that narrow, two-way St. Nicholas Avenue had 14 reported crashes injuring 12 people in 2025 on the four blocks between Myrtle Avenue and Linden Street. News 12 reported that the stretch had averaged about one crash and one injury a month since the start of 2025.
Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez
The official record listed the pedestrian as a 30-year-old woman. News reports identified her as Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez, while reporting different ages: 29, 30, and 32.
The Daily News reported that Chacho Sanchez had just dropped off her 6-year-old daughter and was heading to work when she was killed. The paper reported that she was from Cuenca, Ecuador, had immigrated to New York City in 2012, and worked at a clothing shipping warehouse in Greenpoint.
Her half brother, Christian Chacho, told the Daily News, “We’re still in shock.” He also said of the school drop-off, “That was her last goodbye.”
Police later brought failure-to-yield charges
Early reports said the driver did not remain at the scene. Later accounts described police catching up with him in different ways: the Daily News said officers stopped him about a block away, QNS said he made several deliveries before he was pulled over a short distance away, and News 12 said he returned after police contacted him.
On April 30, the Daily News reported that Cruz had been arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian causing injury and failure to exercise due care. News 12 also reported those charges.