Crime & Safety
Hit-And-Run Driver Killed Woman 71, Faces 20 Charges: NYPD
Robert Matthews, of Brooklyn, is accused of evading a traffic stop that led to the deadly hit-and-run crash in May.
![EMS transported Vidal to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead, police said.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/26844973/20240723/120742/styles/patch_image/public/bushwick-hit-and-run-google-maps___23120625168.png)
BROOKLYN, NY— A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn that killed a 71-year-old woman and injured her daughter back in May, police said.
Robert Matthews, of Brooklyn, has been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, among 18 other charges, police said.
Matthews is accused of evading a traffic stop on May 9 at about 5:02 p.m. and running two stop signs at the intersection of Knickerbocker Avenue before he ultimately struck Juanita Vidal who was crossing the street with her 44-year-old daughter at Eldert Street, police said.
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The driver then struck two parked and unoccupied vehicles before ditching his car and fleeing north on Eldert Street, police said.
Both women were found unresponsive with head and body trauma. EMS transported Vidal to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead, police said.
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The 44-year-old woman was taken to NYC Health and Hospitals/Elmhurst in critical but stable condition., police said.
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