Driver Sentenced in Fatal Bedford-Stuyvesant Hit-and-Run
Prosecutors said Jerry Gelle was speeding north on Bedford Avenue when he ran a red light and hit Felix Mendez in a crosswalk; city records recorded one pedestrian death at 3:07 a.m.
What We Know
Felix Mendez, 49, was killed before dawn on Oct. 10, 2024, at Bedford Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. City records recorded one pedestrian death and listed a northbound Jeep SUV with unsafe speed and traffic control disregarded. Prosecutors later said Jerry Gelle drove a gray 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee at about 53 mph, ran a steady red light, hit Mendez in the crosswalk, and left without stopping. Gelle pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and a judge sentenced him to five to 10 years in prison.
A predawn crossing ended in a fatal hit-and-run
The city crash record places the crash at 3:07 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2024, at Bedford Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, where one pedestrian was killed. The record lists a male driver in a northbound 2024 Jeep SUV going straight ahead, with unsafe speed and traffic control disregarded recorded as driver factors.
Prosecutors later said Jerry Gelle was driving north on Bedford Avenue at about 53 mph when he ran a steady red light and hit 49-year-old Felix Mendez in the middle of the crosswalk. The Daily News reported that surveillance footage showed Mendez had left the Olive Tasty Deli carrying a white bag and was crossing Lafayette Avenue westbound with the light before the impact.
Bedford Avenue has a long crash record
The crash happened at Bedford Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. CrashCountNYC location context identifies Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn as a corridor with 2,327 crashes, 1,544 injuries, 78 serious injuries and 8 deaths recorded since 2022.
Felix Mendez was close to home
The Daily News reported that Mendez was crossing Lafayette Avenue just down the block from his Bedford-Stuyvesant home. The New York Post identified him as a Mexican immigrant who lived on Lafayette Avenue and reported that friends and relatives described his work history, his ties to family in Mexico and California, and his plan to return to Mexico.
Reports differed before prosecutors identified the Jeep
Initial Daily News accounts described the fleeing driver as being in a white SUV. Prosecutors later said Gelle drove a gray 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee, while the city crash record lists a 2024 Jeep SUV with one occupant.
Speeding and red lights drove the criminal case
The official crash record lists unsafe speed and traffic control disregarded as driver factors. Prosecutors said video showed Gelle running multiple red lights, driving in bike lanes and triggering speed cameras in the minutes before the crash.
A guilty plea led to prison time
Prosecutors said Gelle fled without stopping to render aid or report the crash, later tried to sanitize the Jeep interior and abandoned it about four blocks from the scene. They said evidence from the Jeep, including DNA on the gear shift, linked him to the case.
Gelle was arrested in July 2025, pleaded guilty on March 11, 2026, to second-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.