An unlicensed driver from Pennsylvania has been arrested and accused of fatally striking a 59-year-old man trying to cross the FDR Drive on foot over the summer, police said Saturday.
Jose Turpo, 38, of Wilkes Barre, PA, was taken into custody Friday in connection with the Aug. 10 crash on the southbound lanes between the Houston St. and Grand St./Williamsburg Bridge exits, cops said.
The victim was trying to cross the East Side highway when he was hit by a white sedan.
First responders found the victim sprawled on the highway with severe injuries to his head and body. EMS rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died a few days later.
The name of the victim was not released.
The driver of the sedan never stopped. At the time, rain from the remnants of Hurricane Debby had ended but it was overcast and foggy in the city, according to area weather reports.
Investigators charged Turpo with leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was released following a brief arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday.
The charges against Turpo were not bail-eligible, police said.
In a similar incident, on June 25, Mary Rowell was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the FDR Drive near Houston St., close to where the 59-year-old victim was hit.
Rowell, 31, was heading home from East River Park around 12:15 a.m. Relatives believe confusing construction signs led her into oncoming traffic on the highway instead of onto a pedestrian pathway.
