Driver charged after woman killed in Gates Avenue crosswalk
William Cruz was charged after he drove a box truck left onto Gates Avenue and hit Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez in a crosswalk, killing her.
What We Know
Official crash records say the driver of a 2024 Freightliner box truck was making a left turn at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Brooklyn around half past 8 AM when he hit a 30-year-old woman crossing with the signal. The records list failure to yield the right of way and driver inattention or distraction for the truck driver. News accounts identified the woman as Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez and said police later arrested and charged the driver; accounts differed on whether police described the driver as fleeing or continuing on his route before being stopped nearby.
A left turn at the crosswalk
The crash happened at about 8:26 a.m. on April 17, 2026, at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Brooklyn. The city record says the pedestrian was at the intersection and crossing with the signal when the driver of a box truck, traveling northwest and making a left turn, hit her.
ABC7 reported that Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez was using the crosswalk to cross Gates Avenue and that the driver was a 49-year-old man in a 2024 Freightliner. She was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Gates Avenue has a long crash record
The fatal crash was recorded at Gates Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Brooklyn. News outlets described the neighborhood differently, including Bushwick and Ridgewood, while Streetsblog noted that the intersection sits near the Brooklyn-Queens border.
On Gates Avenue in Brooklyn, CrashCountNYC recorded 748 crashes, 422 injuries, 26 serious injuries and 2 deaths from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.
A mother on her way to work
The Daily News reported that Chacho Sanchez had just dropped off her 6-year-old daughter at school and was heading to work when the driver hit her. The paper reported that she was born in Ecuador, immigrated to New York City in 2012, and worked at a clothing shipping warehouse in Greenpoint.
Her age was reported differently across sources: ABC7 and News 12 reported 29, the Daily News later reported 30, and the city crash record lists her as 30.
Police cited failure to yield and due care
The city crash record lists failure to yield right of way and driver inattention or distraction for the truck driver. It also records the truck driver as licensed in New Jersey and the truck as a 2024 Freightliner truck or bus.
Accounts differed on whether the driver knew he hit her
Early police accounts cited by Streetsblog said the driver fled. News 12 reported that video showed the driver continuing down the street and that police said he returned only after officers contacted him. The Daily News later reported that police stopped the driver about a block away and that investigators believed he did not realize he had hit Chacho Sanchez.