BMW Driver Charged After Scooter Rider Dies in Jackson Heights
Police charged 24-year-old BMW driver Jairo Ortiz with vehicular manslaughter and DWI after a 1:16 a.m. Queens crash involving a motorscooter and sedan at 37 Avenue and 82 Street; the scooter rider died at Elmhurst Hospital.
What We Know
In Jackson Heights early on Nov. 26, 2022, a scooter rider and a BMW sedan driver were involved in a crash at 37 Avenue and 82 Street. The rider was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and died. Police identified the BMW driver as Jairo Ortiz, 24, of Flushing, and amNY reported that he was charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, and operating without a license, registration, or insurance. The public accounts agree that the scooter rider was traveling west on 37 Avenue and the BMW driver was traveling south on 82 Street, but they describe the impact differently: the Post reported a collision with the BMW, while amNY reported police said the rider hit the back of the BMW sedan.
The crash happened before dawn in Jackson Heights
The official record places the crash at 1:16 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2022, at 37 Avenue and 82 Street in Queens. It lists one motorist killed in a crash involving a motorscooter and a sedan.
Police told the Post that the scooter rider was traveling west on 37 Avenue and the BMW driver was traveling south on 82 Street. The Post reported that the rider died at Elmhurst Hospital.
Public accounts describe the impact differently
The Post reported that the scooter rider collided with the BMW, while amNY reported that police said the rider hit the back of the BMW sedan. The official vehicle-damage entries list the scooter's center front and the BMW's left-side doors, so the available sources do not describe the same impact point.
Police arrested the BMW driver
The Post reported later that day that the 24-year-old BMW driver remained at the scene, was arrested, and had charges pending.
37 Avenue was already a Vision Zero priority corridor
The crash happened on 37 Avenue at 82 Street in Jackson Heights. amNY reported that a stretch of 37 Avenue through Woodside and Jackson Heights had been designated a Vision Zero priority corridor in 2019 after traffic deaths between Woodside Avenue and 114th Street.
amNY also reported that five pedestrians had been killed on that stretch in the prior decade, citing NYC Crash Mapper, and noted that a woman was killed one block away at 81st Street in 2019.
Elected officials called attention to traffic violence
amNY reported that Council Member Shekar Krishnan mourned the death over Thanksgiving weekend, and State Senator Jessica Ramos urged residents not to drink and drive.