Queens Man Charged After Fatal Whitestone Expressway Hit-Run
A 43-year-old pedestrian was killed and another person was injured on the Whitestone Expressway on Feb. 10, 2024, and police later arrested James Vennitti in the reported hit-run.
What We Know
David Berney, a 43-year-old MTA track supervisor, died after an early-morning crash on the Whitestone Expressway in Queens. The official record classified him as a pedestrian and recorded one other pedestrian injured. News accounts say Berney and a Toyota RAV4 driver had stopped after a first collision when a northbound driver in a 2014 Mercedes-Benz SUV hit the stopped vehicles and people outside them. Nearly a year later, police arrested James Vennitti. The Daily News reported that police identified Vennitti as the unlicensed Mercedes driver, while Shore News Network reported that authorities had not indicated whether he drove the Mercedes-Benz or what his role was.
Early-morning crash after drivers stopped
At about 6:15 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2024, the official record says one pedestrian was killed and another pedestrian was injured on the Whitestone Expressway in Queens.
News accounts describe a first collision between David Berney in a 2012 Scion iQ and a Toyota RAV4 driver before a northbound driver in a 2014 Mercedes-Benz SUV hit the stopped vehicles and people outside them. The accounts differ on Berney’s position: the Daily News reported he had returned to his Scion and was thrown from the driver’s seat, while Shore News Network reported he and others were standing behind the Toyota.
On the Whitestone Expressway near Linden Place
The official record places the crash on the Whitestone Expressway in Queens. Shore News Network reported that it happened near Linden Place and that the first collision left people outside vehicles in the expressway’s center lanes.
David Berney was on his way to work
The Daily News identified the man who died as David Berney, 43, an MTA track supervisor who was driving to work. The paper reported that he had worked for the MTA for about 15 years, was raised in Inwood, lived in Jackson Heights with his family, and died at the scene.
Shore News Network reported that EMS pronounced Berney dead and that a 27-year-old person was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in stable condition. The Daily News described the injured person as the 28-year-old Toyota RAV4 driver who was knocked down and treated at a hospital.
Arrest came nearly a year later
Police arrested James Vennitti, 63, nearly a year after the crash. The Daily News reported that police described him as the unlicensed Mercedes driver who fled and later abandoned the damaged Mercedes, and that a grand jury indicted him on charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving without a license.
Shore News Network reported the arrest and a leaving-scene charge but said authorities had not indicated whether Vennitti drove the Mercedes-Benz or what his role was. The Daily News reported that he was released without bail after arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.