Driver Charged in Fatal Webster Avenue Car Wash Hit-and-Run
On Feb. 19, 2023, a driver killed 47-year-old pedestrian Felix Thomas Bontia on Webster Avenue, where police later said Trina Bryant hit him as he dried a Toyota RAV4 outside a Bronx car wash and then fled.
What We Know
At about 5:24 a.m. on Feb. 19, 2023, a southbound driver hit Felix Thomas Bontia on Webster Avenue while he was working outside a Bronx car wash. Police later accused Trina Bryant of driving a 2011 Ford Escape into the bus lane, hitting Bontia and the Toyota RAV4 he was drying, then leaving on foot with a passenger after stopping farther down the block. Bontia, 47, died at Lincoln Hospital, and the Toyota driver was treated for minor injuries. City crash data listed driver inattention/distraction, and the record for the Ford also listed unsafe speed. Bryant was arrested in 2025 and pleaded not guilty to charges reported by CBS as part of an 11-count indictment.
A worker was drying a car when the driver entered the bus lane
The official record places the crash on Webster Avenue at 5:24 a.m. and records one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured. Press accounts say Felix Thomas Bontia was drying a customer’s Toyota RAV4 outside the 24-hour Speedway car wash when the driver in a Ford Escape entered the bus lane and hit him and the Toyota.
Police said the force of the impact pinned Bontia between the vehicles before he fell to the ground. EMS took him to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Toyota driver was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital with minor injuries.
Webster Avenue reports named nearby blocks differently
The official record lists Webster Avenue as the crash location. Articles placed the car wash on Webster Avenue near East 167th Street or East 168th Street, and described the area as Concourse Village, Claremont, or Morrisania.
Bontia was identified as a Bronx car wash worker
amNY identified Bontia as an Allerton resident. CBS reported that he had worked at the car wash for about a year, that his family was in Mexico, and that friends and coworkers in New York called him Benito Felix. The Daily News paraphrased manager Milton Cardenas describing him as a quiet, good worker with family and two children in Mexico.
The official record and later police-based stories identified Bontia as 47. An early News12 brief described the worker as 55, creating a discrepancy in the public reports.
Records and police reports describe three vehicles
The official vehicle records list a 2011 Ford SUV traveling south before the crash, a 2017 Toyota SUV that was parked, and a 2014 Nissan sedan that was parked and unoccupied. Police told reporters the driver in the Ford hit Bontia and the Toyota, and the impact pushed the Toyota into the parked Nissan.
Police and records pointed to the driver’s actions
City crash data listed driver inattention/distraction as a contributing factor. The official record for the Ford also listed unsafe speed. Cardenas told the Daily News that, from what he saw, the driver ran a red light and was going more than 60 mph on an otherwise empty street.
An arrest came more than two years later
Police arrested Trina Bryant in July 2025. The Daily News reported charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and leaving the scene of an accident. CBS reported that she pleaded not guilty to an 11-count indictment that included manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, driving while under the influence of alcohol, and other counts.
The Post reported that Bryant pleaded not guilty at arraignment and that a judge ordered her held on $250,000 cash bail or $750,000 bond. Police also said a front passenger left the scene on foot; the Post reported that the passenger had not been caught by that Thursday.