Driver Charged After Pedestrian Killed at Lexington and 61st
At about 4:40 a.m. on March 20, 2026, city records list one pedestrian death at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street, and prosecutors said Vincent Spano backed an oil truck through the intersection, checked on Terrill Jenkins, and drove away.
What We Know
Terrill Jenkins, 44, was fatally injured before dawn at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street. City records put the crash at 4:40 a.m. and list a tanker whose driver was backing, with backing unsafely recorded as a contributing factor. Prosecutors later said Vincent Spano, 33, backed an oil truck through the intersection, ran over Jenkins in the crosswalk, got out after parking, checked on him, then drove away. EMS took Jenkins to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he died about three hours later. Police said Spano turned himself in at a Brooklyn precinct around 7 a.m.; he was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and failure to exercise due care. Reports differ on some movement details: early police accounts described a southbound vehicle, while the city vehicle record lists a northbound tanker that was backing.
A predawn crash at the intersection
City records place the fatal crash at 4:40 a.m. on March 20, 2026, at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street. The record lists one pedestrian killed and a tanker whose licensed driver was backing before the crash.
Prosecutors said Vincent Spano backed a dark-green and red oil truck through the intersection and ran over Terrill Jenkins, who was in the crosswalk. According to the criminal complaint cited by the Daily News, Spano then drove forward, stopped at the corner, got out to check on Jenkins, returned to the truck and drove away.
Some accounts describe the movement differently. Early police reports cited by amNY and ABC7 described a driver traveling south on Lexington Avenue, while the city vehicle record lists a northbound tanker that was backing.
Terrill Jenkins was heading to work
Jenkins was 44 and lived in Harlem, police told the Daily News. CBS New York reported he was on his way to work at a Home Depot on First Avenue, and the Daily News reported the crash happened three blocks from that job. A later Daily News account said Jenkins was able to call coworkers while losing consciousness.
Witness Charlie Reyes told CBS he came upon Jenkins in the street and stopped to help. Reyes said, "He looked in bad shape, and I told him to be strong ... 'Be strong. You're gonna be all right, buddy.' I never know he passed away."
Backing was recorded as a central factor
The city crash record lists backing unsafely as a contributing factor for the driver and lists the tanker as backing before impact. The fatal-person record lists Jenkins as crossing against the signal and records traffic control disregarded for the pedestrian.
The criminal complaint described in press coverage also centered on backing, with prosecutors saying Spano backed the oil truck through the intersection before running over Jenkins in the crosswalk.
The driver was arrested and charged
Police said Spano, 33, of Palm Harbor, Florida, turned himself in at the NYPD's 76th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn around 7 a.m. and told officers he was responsible for the deadly collision. He was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and failure to exercise due care.
The Daily News reported that prosecutors requested bail at arraignment, but a Manhattan Criminal Court judge granted supervised release. Eastsidefeed, citing public court records, reported that Spano pleaded not guilty, was released with non-monetary conditions and was due back in court on May 6.
Lexington Avenue has a long crash record
City records place the crash at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street in Manhattan's 10065 ZIP code.
CrashCountNYC's corridor review for Lexington Avenue in Manhattan counted 1,473 crashes, 816 injuries, 51 serious injuries and 3 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.