NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A man accused of striking and killing two pedestrians in a hit-and-run in Sunset Park, Brooklyn early Friday morning was arrested, police announced.
Juventino Anastacio Florentino, 23, was taken into custody just before 11:30 a.m. and is charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an incident, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and other traffic charges.
According to officials, at about 4:22 a.m. a black BMW 328i was traveling southbound on 3rd Avenue when it disobeyed a steady red signal and struck two men who were crossing toward 52nd Street.
Police said that the driver was moving at a high rate of speed at the time of collision.
The victims—59-year-old Faqiu Lin and 80-year-old Kex Un Chen—were walking in the marked crosswalk with the pedestrian signal, investigators said.
EMS responded and pronounced the men dead at the scene.
The driver, allegedly Florentino, fled the scene southbound on 3rd Avenue.
City Harvest, which hosts a mobile market in the area, provided the following statement to ABC7: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two individuals in Sunset Park this morning. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones. We understand they may have been on their way to our Mobile Market simply trying to access food like so many New Yorkers in need.”
The deadly hit-and-run comes just days after a similar incident in Homecrest, where a 90-year-old man was fatally mowed down in a crosswalk by a moped rider who fled the scene, police said.