Skip to main content

Two pedestrians were killed in separate incidents less than an hour apart in Queens early Sunday, one by a drunken livery driver and the other in a hit-and-run, police said.

 

Rohan Singh was crossing Liberty Ave. near 108th St. at about 3:15 a.m. in Ozone Park after leaving a bar when a driver plowed into him and kept going, police sources said.

Singh, 47, a construction worker who sends money back to his wife and teenage sons in his native Guyana, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he died.

 

Cops are looking for a black Nissan Maxima with front-end damage, sources said.

Singh’s family broke the news to Chanrooytie Arjun, his frail 70-year-old mother Sunday.

 

“That was her Mother’s Day gift,” said the victim’s devastated brother, Chateran Singh, 45. “She burst into tears.”

Arjun had planned on celebrating Mother’s Day with a meal of baked lamb with her children. Instead she wept on the couch as her three surviving children tried to console her.

“Of all her kids, she loved him a lot,” said Chateran Singh. “Whoever hit him, they should have come forward.”

 

Earlier in the morning, a 24-year-old man hailing a cab was struck by livery cab driver Avedis Sayesh at the corner of 46th St. and Greenpoint Ave. in Sunnyside about 2:35 a.m., police sources and witnesses said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was waiting for the light to change to grab a yellow taxi cab after a night out, according to a friend who was with him.

 

“I see the [livery\] cab coming at us very fast and I tried to push my friend back, but it was too late,” said Bernardo Reyes, 23.

“He was on the floor, his legs were broken, bleeding”.

Sayesh, 58, lost control of his gray 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis livery cab after clipping a parked box truck, police sources said. He careened onto the curb, slamming into the victim on the sidewalk, then side-swiped several more cars before coming to a stop in front of a flower shop.

“This guy was crazy, he was driving so fast,” Reyes said.

The victim, suffering head trauma, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital but could not be saved, police said.

 

Charges against Sayesh include manslaughter and driving drunk.

 

bpaddock@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/new...alLinksEnabled=false

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Livery cabs are a menace in New York. They are always speeding and in a hurry to pick up passengers. Nowadays every other car you see has livery plates. It costs $100 for a trip to Manhattan and back. That being said, I found pedestrians are most dotish in the RH area. They blatantly walk across the road even if they have a red light. I almost hit two Guyanese bimbos yakking on their cell phones and then suddenly deciding to cross the street in front of traffic. I think all that curry smell in RH finally affecting people brains.
TI

 

The family of a Guyanese immigrant was making funeral arrangements this week after police said a car slammed into the 47-year-old father of two while he was crossing Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill Sunday morning and then fled the scene.

Police could not confirm the make or model of the car, but surveillance footage from a nearby store shows a two-door, dark sedan hitting Rohan Singh so hard that the Woodhaven man flew into the air and landed in a heap on the sidewalk near the corner of 108th Street.

 

According to witnesses, Singh was walking from a nearby bar to a corner store when he was struck.

Police received the call at about 3:15 a.m. Emergency personnel took Singh to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD.

Later Sunday, Singh’s family came to the scene of the accident and put up a small memorial.

“It’s not right. They hit him and leave him to die in the street,” said Chateram Singh one of the man’s seven siblings. “I can cope with it, but for my mother it is very hard.”

Singh has a wife and two teenage children living in Guyana, his brother said.

According to shop owner Mike Ficco, Singh often came into his store to buy a beer.

“He was a nice guy,” Ficco said as he fielded questions and accommodated a crowd of reporters and neighbors. “I wouldn’t be doing all this if he wasn’t.”

Ficco played surveillance footage of the accidents for horrified family members and neighbors.

Singh’s family is currently attempting to get a visa for the slain man’s wife to come to the country.

His brother asked anyone with information to contact the police.

 

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.

http://www.timesledger.com/sto...fh_2012_05_17_q.html

Sunil

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×