A woman was arrested on manslaughter charges Thursday for a high-speed 2022 hit-and-run crash in the Bronx that killed a 45-year-old livery cab driver, police said.
Imani Williams is accused of going more than triple the speed limit in a bus lane and blowing a red light in the June 5, 2022, crash that killed Robert Godwin.
Williams, 26, surrendered with a lawyer at the 44th Precinct stationhouse Thursday morning and was charged with manslaughter, police sources said.
NYPD Collision Investigation Squad detectives recovered DNA from the driver’s side seat, police sources said. After two years, detectives were able to link the DNA to Williams, who has a criminal record.
Williams, 26, was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Traverse SUV speeding north in a bus lane on Webster Ave. in the South Bronx when she blew a red light at E. 168th St. and T-boned Godwin’s Toyota Camry about 4:30 a.m., according to cops.
Godwin was driving the Camry with TLC plates down E. 168th St. and had the right of way, officials said.
Cops determined Williams was going 77 mph in a 25-mph zone when she allegedly slammed into Godwin, who had the light, according to cops. The SUV pushed the Camry about 70 feet before both vehicles slammed into a row of parked cars.
Williams was about half a mile from home, when she crashed, according to cops.
After the crash, Williams managed to get out of the mangled SUV and stumble away, leaving Godwin to die, according to cops. Her two passengers also ran off, including a woman witnesses saw vomit after escaping the wreck.
“(Godwin) was all covered in blood,” a witness to the crash, David Torres, said at the time. “He was already dead from the hit. He wasn’t gonna make it. No way in hell.”
Medics rushed Godwin to Lincoln Hospital but he could not be saved. He lived in Astoria, Queens, and was about to wrap up his night shift when he was killed, friends said.
Mike Marzoa, Godwin’s roommate and childhood friend, said the victim also worked for app-based services like Uber and Lyft and enjoyed learning about the people he drove around.
“He was very good with people, very social with them,” Marzoa, 42, told the Daily News in 2022. “He always comes home and tells me. He’s like, ‘I talked to this one guy, talked to this couple or this guy from Brazil who’s in town for this or that.’”
“He loved to mix it up with people and get to know them,” he added.
Williams is expected to be arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court Thursday.
The abandoned SUV was owned by another woman, cops said. In the three years before the crash, the Traverse racked up eight parking violations, six school zone speed camera violations and one ticket for blowing a red light. It is not clear who was behind the wheel when those tickets were issued.
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