Hightower charged after fatal Crown Heights sidewalk crash.
Police charged driver Brandon Hightower after a collision at St. Marks and Franklin avenues in Crown Heights left 67-year-old Heriberto Morales fatally injured on the sidewalk, the Daily News reported.
Reported by press, not yet linked to NYC police crash records. This may change when new official records become available or when matching details are reviewed.
Location under review.
What We Know
Police said Brandon Hightower drove through a steady red light before a fatal collision at St. Marks and Franklin avenues in Crown Heights. The Daily News later reported Hightower's Hyundai went onto the sidewalk, where pedestrian Heriberto Morales, 67, was struck. Earlier reports said a Toyota driver hit the Hyundai, while an October News 12 account said Hightower hit another car and Morales was then struck by that car. The Daily News reported Hightower was charged with reckless driving and unlicensed operation. Its October report places the crash on July 18; 2026 is inferred from that report's publication year.
The collision was at a Crown Heights intersection.
Reports place the crash at St. Marks Avenue and Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at about 3 p.m. The Daily News's October 2, 2026 report gives July 18 as the crash date; the year 2026 is inferred from that report's publication year.
The fatal pedestrian impact happened on the sidewalk after the initial collision, according to the Daily News.
Reports differ on the collision sequence.
Police told the July Daily News that a 48-year-old man driving a 2025 Toyota Highlander east on St. Marks Avenue hit a 2026 Hyundai Palisade traveling north on Franklin Avenue. The report said the collision carried the Hyundai over the curb and onto the sidewalk, where Morales was struck, before the Hyundai made contact with a parked, unoccupied 2006 Honda Odyssey.
The October Daily News, citing police and a criminal complaint, said Hightower drove a Hyundai Palisade through a steady red light and hit a Toyota Highlander, then went onto the sidewalk, where Morales was struck. It said the Hyundai then made contact with a parked Honda Odyssey. News 12's October report gave a different chain: police said Hightower hit a car, then Morales was struck by that car; it did not identify the car as the Toyota or specify its subtype.
Hoodline, citing PIX11, described both drivers traveling south on Franklin Avenue, unlike the July Daily News account of the Toyota traveling east on St. Marks and the Hyundai north on Franklin. The reports differ on travel directions and which vehicle was involved in the pedestrian impact, and do not reconcile those differences.
A neighbor called for help.
Heriberto Morales was 67 and was on the sidewalk, the Daily News reported. A firefighter who lived nearby performed CPR, and medics took Morales to Kings County Hospital, where he could not be saved.
Lakeysha Smith, a nearby resident who called 911, told the Daily News, "I was praying he did (survive) and now I'm devastated. It's tragic."
Hightower was later charged.
The July Daily News reported that both drivers stayed at the scene and were not hurt. In October, the Daily News reported Hightower was charged with reckless driving and unlicensed operation. Prosecutors requested $20,000 bail, but a judge granted supervised release at his arraignment.
The reports differ on Hightower's age: the Daily News gave it as 32, while News 12 gave it as 33. News 12 also described him as accused of reckless driving and driving without a license.