The driver charged with murder for crashing a stolen rental car after speeding off the Manhattan Bridge into Chinatown knew she had killed two people when she and her passenger tried to hail a cab to get away, Manhattan prosecutors said Tuesday.
While she refused blood and breathalyzer tests after being taken to the hospital, 23-year-old Autumn Donna Ascension Romero did admit she was driving the blue Malibu that slammed into victims May Kwok, 63, and bicyclist Kevin Cruickshank, 55, during the 7:30 a.m. Saturday crash at the Bowery and Canal St.
She also admitted to “having a few drinks” before getting behind the wheel, prosecutors say. An open tequila bottle and a travel cup filled with alcohol were found in the front of the mangled car after the crash, prosecutors say. Cops say they found two 9-mm. pistols and a box of ammunition in a box inside the trunk of the wrecked vehicle.
Romero’s attorney, however, tried to pin the crash on his client’s passenger, alleging that 22-year-old Kennedy Lecraft may have grabbed the steering wheel just before the crash.
Lecraft, who prosecutors say rented the Malibu from Enterprise and then failed to return it, is charged with weapon possession, possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle. She was arraigned a day before Romero and is being held on Rikers Island on $300,000 bond.
Romero and Lecraft managed to get out of their wrecked car and sat on the curb “only 20 feet away from one of the decedents who was lying in the street” Assistant District Attorney Maria Luna said at Romero’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday.
“They then tried to flee the scene followed by multiple eyewitnesses who told them to stop and come back because they had just killed two people.”
The eyewitnesses managed to prevent Romero and Lecraft from hailing a cab and held the two captive until cops arrived and took them into custody.
Romero is facing two counts of murder, as well as charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and weapon possession after cops said two firearms were found in the Malibu’s trunk.
Attorney Howard Greenberg said Romero is a nursing student. He suggested Lecraft may have grabbed the wheel and been responsible for the crash.
“My investigators learned that the co-defendant apologized for the accident that she caused,” Greenberg told Judge Michelle Weber. “If you and I were driving to an arraignment and I was in the passenger seat and for some reason I grab the steering wheel and you have a neuro-muscular reaction that caused you to slam on the gas pedal, we might be able to envision what were the consequences as my behavior as a passenger in the car.”
Luna noted Romero was already facing charges in an unlicensed hit-and-run crash in April where she’s accused of injuring a woman stepping out of an Uber in Brooklyn.
“She was facing a felony charge in Brooklyn for doing almost the same thing,” Luna said. “But in that case, she only caused serious physical injury, not death.”
Judge Weber ordered Romero held without bail. She’s expected to return to court on Thursday.
