Police Charged Driver After Bronx Pedestrian Died on White Plains Road
A 22-year-old pedestrian was killed at White Plains Road and Archer Street at 4:06 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024, and police said Adam Vilajeti later faced DWI and leaving-the-scene charges.
What We Know
Wilbert de Jesus Cordero, 22, was killed before dawn on White Plains Road near Archer Street in the Bronx. Police accounts said a 24-year-old man driving a Mercedes south hit Cordero first, and that Adam Vilajeti, driving a BMW north, hit him after he was thrown into the opposite lanes. City crash data recorded one pedestrian death at 4:06 a.m. and listed a sedan and an SUV. Police said Vilajeti later faced charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene; the Mercedes driver remained at the scene and was not charged by the next day. Sources disagree on whether Cordero was crossing mid-block or at the intersection.
What police said happened before dawn
City records show that one pedestrian was killed at White Plains Road and Archer Street in the Bronx at 4:06 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024, in a crash involving a sedan and an SUV.
Police told reporters that Wilbert de Jesus Cordero was crossing White Plains Road when a 24-year-old man driving a Mercedes south hit him. Police said Cordero was thrown into the northbound lanes, where Adam Vilajeti, driving a BMW, hit him.
Accounts differ on the crossing location
The New York Post and Gothamist reported that Cordero was crossing mid-block near Archer Street, while Bronx News 12 described him as walking into the Archer Street and White Plains Road intersection. The city crash record places the pedestrian outside an intersection.
A young man was killed near home
Police identified the pedestrian as Wilbert de Jesus Cordero, 22. Reporters cited police saying he lived about a block away or around the corner from where he was hit. First responders took him to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The New York Post reported that Cordero had recently arrived in the Bronx from the Dominican Republic and had started working at a store. His employer, Martin Aponte, told WNBC, “Last night, he was in the barber shop and he was going home.”
Police accused one driver of DWI and leaving the scene
Police said Adam Vilajeti, a Scarsdale resident, initially left the scene and was arrested about three hours later. Reporters cited police saying he faced charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident or incident.
The city vehicle record lists alcohol involvement for the northbound SUV. Police said the 24-year-old Mercedes driver stayed at the scene and had not been charged by the next day.
White Plains Road has a long crash record
The crash was recorded at White Plains Road and Archer Street in the Bronx.
CrashCountNYC’s corridor view for White Plains Road in the Bronx counted 1,726 crashes, 1,180 injuries, 84 serious injuries and 7 deaths from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.