A woman was arrested Wednesday on charges that she was behind the wheel of an SUV that fatally struck a Bronx car wash worker in a Feb. 19. 2023 hit-and-run incident, cops said.
Trina Bryant, 32, was hit with charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident— killing Felix Thomas Bontia, 47, as he was drying a customer’s black Toyota RAV4 vehicle with a cloth outside the 24-hour car wash on Webster Ave. near E. 167th St. in Claremont about 5:20 a.m.
Bontia, dressed in a blue jacket and reflective vest, was wiping down the driver’s side of the vehicle after it pulled out of the car wash into a bus lane, authorities said.
“I’m in shock. This don’t make sense. He was a good worker, quiet. He has a family in Mexico, two kids,” car wash manager Milton Cardenas told the Daily News at the time. “We’re in shock. This is very bad.”
Car Wash Worker Killed In Bronx Hit And Run
Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News The worker was using a cloth to shine a black Toyota RAV4 just outside the 24-hour car wash on Webster Ave. near E. 167th St. in Claremont when he was fatally struck about 5:20 a.m., police said.
Bryant, who was driving a 2011 Ford Escape, barreled down a bus lane, plowed into both the worker and the vehicle he was cleaning, sending the Toyota careening into a sign for the car wash, shocking surveillance video tweeted by a 1010 WINS reporter showed at the time.
“The car ran a red light. It was going over 60 mph. There was no traffic at that time of day. The street was empty,” Cardenas said. “He was wiping a car. He don’t have any chance. He was hit from behind.”
Medics took Bontia to Lincoln Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
A 58-year-old Toyota driver suffered minor injuries in the incident. Authorities at the time believed Bryant was riding with another passenger as cops said two women bailed out of a Ford and ran off.
Bryant’s arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court was pending Wednesday night.
Originally Published:
<