Hit-and-run driver killed Larry Maxwell in Brownsville
Police said a hit-and-run driver fleeing another collision killed Larry Maxwell, 72, as official records show he was crossing with the signal at Sutter Avenue and Osborn Street on May 10.
What We Know
Police said a hit-and-run driver fleeing another collision killed Larry Maxwell, 72, near Sutter Avenue and Osborn Street in Brownsville on May 10, 2025. The city crash record says Maxwell was a pedestrian at the intersection, crossing with the signal, and was the only person killed or injured. Press accounts report he was walking from his home toward a family cookout at Dr. Green Playground. The Daily News reported that police said the driver first collided with a Chevrolet Malibu and then kept going; News 12 reported a different police-described sequence in which Maxwell was hit after a speeding driver struck another vehicle. No arrests had been reported in the reviewed coverage.
A fatal crossing at Sutter Avenue and Osborn Street
The city crash record says the crash happened at 7:03 p.m. on May 10, 2025, at Sutter Avenue and Osborn Street in Brooklyn. It records one death: a 72-year-old male pedestrian who was at the intersection and crossing with the signal.
The Daily News, citing police, reported that first responders found Larry Maxwell near Sutter Avenue and Osborn Street around 6:31 p.m., unconscious and unresponsive, and took him to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where he died. The official record and the police account published by the Daily News give different times for the incident.
The crash happened on a heavily traveled Brownsville corridor
The crash location was Sutter Avenue at Osborn Street in Brooklyn. CrashCountNYC location data for Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn shows 948 crashes, 669 injuries, 36 serious injuries and 1 death from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.
Maxwell was headed to a family cookout
The Daily News reported that Maxwell was walking from his apartment in Brownsville's Langston Hughes Houses to Dr. Green Playground for a family cookout when he was hit. His son, Larnce Vargas, told the paper they had spoken earlier that afternoon after watching the Knicks game.
Family and friends later gathered for a birthday vigil, according to News 12. John Maxwell, identified as Larry Maxwell's oldest brother, said, "Everybody loved him...Anybody needed something, he'd give it to them. That's the kind of person he was. He loved everybody."
Accounts differed on the collision sequence
The city vehicle record lists a 2020 Chevrolet sedan with two occupants, a licensed male driver, eastbound travel, and parked pre-crash status. The same official file also includes two additional zero-occupant vehicle records without public vehicle descriptions.
The Daily News reported that police said the fleeing driver first collided with a 2023 Chevrolet Malibu traveling east on Sutter Avenue; the Malibu's 46-year-old driver and a passenger stayed at the scene and reported no injuries. News 12 reported a different police-described sequence, saying Maxwell was hit after a speeding driver struck another vehicle.
Police investigation remained open in the reviewed reports
The Daily News reported that no arrests had been made while the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad continued investigating, and police asked anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers. News 12 also reported that no arrests had been made as of Friday evening after the crash.