Mercedes Driver Sought After Fatal Major Deegan Hit-Run
At 3:47 a.m. on March 22, city records show, Darryl Mathis, 39, was killed in a two-sedan crash on the Major Deegan Expressway after police said a Mercedes-Benz driver hit his stopped Ford and fled on foot.
What We Know
At 3:47 a.m. on March 22, 2025, a two-sedan crash on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx killed a 39-year-old driver. Police accounts reported by Gothamist and the Daily News said Darryl Mathis, a New Jersey resident driving a Ford Crown Victoria, was stopped or stranded on the southbound expressway near West Fordham Road when a Mercedes-Benz driver hit him from behind. Police said the Mercedes driver fled on foot, and Gothamist reported two days later that investigators had not announced an arrest. The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction and unsafe speed among recorded factors.
A driver was hit from behind on the southbound expressway
City records place the crash at 3:47 a.m. on March 22, 2025, on the Major Deegan Expressway and record one motorist killed. Police told Gothamist that Darryl Mathis, 39, had stopped between the acceleration and right lanes on the southbound side near Fordham Road before a Mercedes-Benz driver hit the back of his Ford Crown Victoria.
Daily News accounts also described Mathis's Ford as disabled or stuck near West Fordham Road. The official vehicle records list two sedans, a 2009 Ford and a 2021 Mercedes, both traveling south.
Near West Fordham Road in University Heights
The crash happened on the southbound Major Deegan Expressway near West Fordham Road in University Heights. Gothamist reported that the area is within the NYPD's 52nd Precinct, where police data showed Mathis was the first person to die in a traffic crash in 2025 as of the article's publication.
Investigators recorded distraction and unsafe speed
The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. In the city's vehicle record for the Mercedes driver, officials also listed unsafe speed.
ABC7 reported on the day of the crash that authorities were still trying to determine what led up to the collision.
Darryl Mathis was identified as a New Jersey nightlife promoter
Police identified the driver who died as Darryl Mathis of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Daily News identified him as Darryl Mathis Jr., a nightlife promoter known as Maybach Swagg who had been returning home from an event in the Bronx.
Cornelius "Big Grim" Whitaker, described by the Daily News as Mathis's friend and business associate, said Mathis had called friends for help after his battery died and later said he had been hit and could not breathe.
Police searched for the Mercedes driver
Police said the Mercedes driver fled on foot after the crash; Gothamist reported the NYPD described the man as wearing a blue jacket. A later Daily News account said the driver sped off, so public reports differ on how he left the scene.
EMS took Mathis to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died. The Daily News reported that southbound lanes of the Major Deegan Expressway were shut for several hours while police investigated, and Gothamist reported on March 24 that no arrests had been announced.