Driver charged after pedestrian killed on Jerome Avenue
Police said Steven Castillo hit 60-year-old Antonio Martin on Jerome Avenue near Featherbed Lane before leaving the scene; city records list one pedestrian killed at 6:58 p.m.
What We Know
Antonio Martin, 60, was killed near Jerome Avenue and Featherbed Lane in Morris Heights just before 7 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2022. Early police accounts described a 21-year-old BMW driver hitting him and staying at the scene. A later police account said Steven Castillo, 26, first hit Martin while driving a Honda Accord, left before officers arrived, and was identified through surveillance video; police said a second driver in a black BMW then hit Martin and remained there. Castillo was arrested March 2 and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash. City crash data lists one pedestrian killed and two sedans involved.
Police later described a two-driver sequence
City records place the crash on Jerome Avenue at 6:58 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2022, with one 60-year-old male pedestrian killed and two sedans listed in the crash.
The Daily News reported that police later accused Steven Castillo, 26, of hitting Antonio Martin, 60, as Martin crossed Jerome Avenue near Featherbed Lane. Police said a 21-year-old driver in a black BMW then hit Martin and stayed at the scene, while Castillo left before officers arrived.
Antonio Martin died at the scene
Police and city records identified the pedestrian as 60-year-old Antonio Martin. The Daily News reported that Martin lived at a homeless shelter in Hunts Point, about two miles from where he was killed.
Norwood News reported that officers found Martin unconscious and unresponsive with head and body trauma, and that EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
The crash record lists a Honda and a BMW
The city crash record lists a 2009 Honda sedan traveling north and a 2010 BMW sedan traveling south, with both drivers licensed. Police told the Daily News that Castillo was driving a Honda Accord and that the second driver was operating a black BMW GT5 sedan.
Investigators cited video and visibility factors
Police said surveillance video helped them determine what happened before Castillo’s arrest. In the city crash record, the Honda entry lists tinted windows and a limited or obstructed view as contributing factors, and the pedestrian entry lists pedestrian error or confusion.
A charge followed weeks after the fatal crash
Police arrested Castillo on March 2 and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, according to the Daily News and Norwood News. The early reports said the BMW driver remained at the scene, and police said there were no immediate charges against that driver.
Early accounts did not all describe the same sequence
Initial and preliminary reports focused on the BMW driver hitting Martin near Featherbed Lane. The later Daily News account, citing police after Castillo’s arrest, said Castillo hit Martin first and that the BMW driver hit him afterward.
Where
Jerome Ave