Drivers Hit and Kill Pedestrian on White Plains Road
Police said two drivers hit 22-year-old pedestrian Wilbert de Jesus Cordero at White Plains Road and Archer Street around the 4:06 a.m. official crash time on Feb. 4, 2024, and Adam Vilajeti was later charged with leaving the scene and DWI.
What We Know
Wilbert de Jesus Cordero, 22, was crossing White Plains Road near Archer Street in the Bronx around 4 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024, when police said a 24-year-old Mercedes driver traveling south hit him. Police said the impact sent Cordero into the northbound lanes, where Adam Vilajeti, driving a 2017 BMW, hit him. Cordero was taken to Jacobi, where he died. The official record lists one pedestrian killed and no other injuries. Police said Vilajeti later was arrested on charges of leaving the scene and driving while intoxicated; the Mercedes driver stayed at the scene and had not been charged by Monday.
Two impacts before dawn
The city crash record places the fatal crash at White Plains Road and Archer Street at 4:06 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024, and records one pedestrian killed. Police told reporters that Wilbert de Jesus Cordero was crossing White Plains Road mid-block when a 24-year-old man driving a Mercedes southbound hit him.
Police said the impact sent Cordero into the northbound lanes, where Adam Vilajeti, driving a 2017 BMW, hit him. First responders took Cordero to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, where he was pronounced dead.
A mid-block crossing near Archer Street
The official record locates the crash on White Plains Road at Archer Street in the Bronx. The pedestrian record describes Cordero as outside an intersection and crossing without a signal or crosswalk, matching police accounts that he was crossing mid-block near Archer Street.
Both news accounts reported that Cordero lived close to the scene; Gothamist described his home as about a block away, while the New York Post said he lived around the corner.
A southbound Mercedes and a northbound BMW
The official vehicle records list a 2019 Mercedes sedan traveling south and a 2017 BMW station wagon or SUV traveling north, with both drivers recorded as going straight ahead before the crash. Police accounts described the same southbound Mercedes and northbound BMW sequence.
Alcohol allegation and leaving-scene charge
The official record lists alcohol involvement for the northbound BMW driver’s vehicle entry. Police identified that driver as Adam Vilajeti of Scarsdale and said officers arrested him after the crash on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated.
Police said the Mercedes driver remained at the scene and had not been charged by Monday.
A recent arrival from the Dominican Republic
Cordero’s employer, Martin Aponte, told WNBC, as quoted by the New York Post, that Cordero had recently arrived in the Bronx from the Dominican Republic and had recently started working at his store. Aponte said Cordero had been in a barber shop and was going home before the crash.