By Tien-Shun Lee
A 24-year-old Woodside driver turned himself in to police last Thursday after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident in which a 26-year-old pedestrian from Corona was struck and killed while crossing Queens Boulevard at 54th Street, authorities said.
The victim, Samson Reyes of 108-40 49th Ave., was the second pedestrian to be killed on Queens Boulevard within a week and the 79th pedestrian killed on the boulevard since 1993. He was struck by an eastbound 1991 Honda while crossing the boulevard at around 4:20 a.m. on New Year’s Day, police said.
Christian Giraldo, of 42-25 65th Place, walked into the Highway 3 station on Grand Central Parkway with his attorney around 12:15 p.m. the day after the accident, and turned himself in to police, authorities said. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, a felony, in the Honda.
As authorities investigated the hit-and-run accident in the early hours of Jan. 1, a second motorist drove through the crime scene in a white Pontiac and ran over Reyes’ body, police said.
The second motorist, Segundo Latacela, 21, of 102-06 103rd Ave. was stopped and arrested at the scene on charges of driving while intoxicated, police said.
“He was a happy, healthy young man and a great brother,” said Miguel Reyes, 32, who lived with Samson Reyes and their sister, Ivonne Reyes, 30. “He was a down-to-earth man.”
Services for Reyes were held Sunday at Iglesia Bautista de la Fe, a Christian church in Corona. Reyes’ body was sent to La Escala, his hometown in Mexico, where his parents and 4-year-old daughter live.
“He loved his work, and he had a lot of friends at church,” said Miguel Reyes of his brother, who worked at a dry cleaner in Manhattan. “In his spare time he liked to lift weights.”
Reyes’ death came four days after Shun Mao, a 73-year-old Briarwood man, was killed by a westbound red Toyota while crossing the boulevard at 82nd Avenue.
The driver of the Toyota stayed at the scene to talk with authorities and was not charged, police said.
“Both of these accidents occurred in the wee early morning hours on a weekend and on New Year’s Day,” said Tom Cocola, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation. “Despite all our efforts, these are hours where it may be dark out and hard to see a pedestrian. … Obviously we’re hoping that this is a trend that doesn’t continue.”
The DOT began implementing changes in 2001 to make Queens Boulevard, also known as the “Boulevard of Death,” safer. More than 400 signs were put up warning pedestrians to be alert while crossing the road, red lights were lengthened to give pedestrians more time to cross, 4-foot-high fencing was put up on medians to prevent jaywalking, and the speed limit was reduced to a uniform 30 mph.
“This is a bit of a wake-up call for all of us,” Cocola said. “The New Year’s Day tragedy underscores the need for the three E’s — education, engineering and enforcement. With a hit-and-run accident you can’t really out-engineer that, but we as an agency will continue to work on the problems of Queens Boulevard.”
Cocola said the DOT and police would look into increasing patrols along the boulevard during off-hours.
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 229-0300, ext. 155.
