Queens driver indicted in fatal Williamsburg hit-and-run
Prosecutors said Daniel K. Buckley hit Leah Kohn in a crosswalk and left without stopping after the Nov. 28, 2022 crash that city records place at Taylor Street and Kent Avenue at about 5:46 p.m.
What We Know
On Nov. 28, 2022, at about 5:46 p.m., a driver in a GMC SUV was making a left turn at Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg when Leah Kohn, 59, was fatally injured in a marked crosswalk. City crash data recorded one pedestrian death and cited failure to yield by the driver. Brooklyn prosecutors later identified the driver as Daniel K. Buckley and said surveillance showed him leaving the Brooklyn Navy Yard, driving into oncoming traffic on Kent Avenue, turning onto Taylor Street to avoid a collision with two oncoming vehicles, hitting Kohn, and leaving without stopping. Prosecutors said Kohn had the right of way and died Dec. 17 at Bellevue from complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
Prosecutors described a wrong-way exit and an illegal turn
City records place the crash at Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Brooklyn at about 5:46 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2022. The record lists one pedestrian death, an SUV, a left-turn movement, and failure to yield by the driver.
Brooklyn prosecutors said Daniel K. Buckley drove out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard onto Kent Avenue, went into oncoming traffic, then made an illegal turn onto Taylor Street to avoid a collision with two oncoming vehicles. They said he hit Leah Kohn in the crosswalk and left without stopping.
Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg
The crash happened at the intersection of Taylor Street and Kent Avenue in Brooklyn's 11249 ZIP code. Prosecutors said Buckley had just left the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he worked as a swing truck operator for the television series The Blacklist, before entering Kent Avenue.
Leah Kohn died weeks after the crash
Leah Kohn was 59. Prosecutors said she had the right of way in the crosswalk and was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where she died on Dec. 17 from complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez described Kohn as a beloved grandmother and cherished member of the community.
The SUV in the record was identified as a GMC Envoy
City records list one vehicle, a 2005 GMC SUV with one occupant, making a left turn before the crash. Prosecutors identified Buckley's vehicle as a 2005 GMC Envoy.
An indictment followed the hit-and-run investigation
Buckley, 67, of Queens, was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on an indictment that included second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, leaving-the-scene counts, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, failure to yield, violating a pedestrian's right of way in a crosswalk, and making an illegal left turn.
Gonzalez said, "Instead of stopping to call an ambulance or offer aid, this defendant heartlessly left the scene after he allegedly struck and fatally injured a beloved grandmother and cherished member of the community." Buckley was ordered released without bail, and prosecutors said he faced up to five to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count.