Editor’s note: Authorities initially gave the victim’s age as 55. Police later said that he was 47. The story below has been updated to reflect this.
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THE BRONX (PIX11) — A worker was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver at a car wash in the Bronx early Sunday morning, the latest in a series of pedestrian fatalities around New York City this weekend, authorities said.
The victim, identified by police as Felix Thomas Bontia, 47, was drying a car when the SUV plowed into him and the occupied sedan that he was working on. It happened at the 24-hour car wash at 1181 Webster Ave., between East 167th and East 168th Streets, just before 5:30 a.m., according to the NYPD.
Bontia was pronounced dead at the hospital. The driver of the sedan was hospitalized with minor injuries.
Two women in the SUV, possibly a Ford Escape, fled the scene on foot after the crash, police said. The suspects remained at large, as of Sunday evening.
A very similar fatal hit-and-run occurred just 200 feet away from Sunday morning’s crash, back on June 5. It was also in the predawn hours, at 4:26 a.m., according to the NYPD. In that case, a 2017 Toyota Camry was hit by a 2013 Chevrolet Traverse. The Camry driver, Robert Godwin, 45, was killed from the impact. The hit-and-run driver has still not been found.
Also over this past weekend, several pedestrians were fatally struck in New York City. A 50-year-old Bronx woman was hit by an SUV while crossing the street at the intersection of Ditmas Avenue and East 21st Street at around 7 p.m. Saturday, police said. The woman was pronounced dead at the hospital. The driver remained at the scene, police said.
A 7-year-old girl was hit and killed by a vehicle in Queens Friday evening, police said. The child was fatally struck at Newtown Road and 45th Street in Astoria around 7 p.m., according to the NYPD. The driver remained at the scene.
Less than two hours later, a woman was hit and killed by an NYPD vehicle while officers were responding to a call near Beach Channel Drive and Bay 32nd Street, according to the NYPD.
The marked police car had its lights and sirens on as it headed down Beach Channel Drive before it hit a Toyota in the intersection, spiraled, and struck a 52-year-old woman standing on the corner, police said. Four officers suffered minor injuries and the driver of the Toyota was not injured, police said.
Anyone with information in regard to the car wash incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
