Hit and Run Accident in Queens, New York

QUEENS, N.Y. — According to The New York Daily News, prosecutors told a judge in a Queens’s courtroom Tuesday, November 13, 2018, that the operator of a 2015 Honda Accord, 28-year-old Irving Durand, left the scene of a fatal collision with a broken windshield and mirror while his victim lay dying in the road. The court ordered Durand to post bail in the amount of $25,000 at his arraignment. The matter remains under investigation by NYPD accident investigators.

Prosecutors told the court during Tuesday’s arraignment and bail hearing that Duran struck and killed Nicklaus Ahern, 29, from Tribeca Sunday, November 11, 2018, in the evening. Duran struck Ahern as Ahern tried to cross Continental Avenue in the Forest Hills section of Queens. Police allege that the force of the impact when Duran hit Ahern was so significant that the windshield was destroyed, and a side view mirror broken. Despite all of the damage to his car, Duran decided to flee. He would later tell police that he was scared.

Duran’s wife and younger brother claimed Duran fled because he was scared as well. Duran’s wife claimed she was riding with Duran at the time of the collision but later recanted that story to the media. Although initial police reports are silent about the identity of the passenger in the car with Duran, Duran’s younger brother told the press that Duran was driving with his wife at the time. The younger Duran went on to say that his older brother believed that he hit a tree branch, but Duran’s wife corrected him and said it was a person. The younger Duran maintained that his brother fled from the scene due to fright.

Information about Duran’s next court date was not immediately available. He faces up to seven years of incarceration if he is convicted.