Police have arrested the box truck driver accused of fleeing the scene after a fiery hit-and-run crash on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that took the life of an off-duty NYPD officer, officials said Thursday.
Carlos Almanzar Toribio, 30, was apprehended later on Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death for his role in the 8:50 a.m. crash on the BQE near the Atlantic Ave. exit in Cobble Hill.
Almanzar Toribio is also charged with operating an unregistered vehicle and driving a vehicle with no license plate, officials said.
He was behind the wheel of a 2020 Freightliner box truck heading in the direction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge when he collided with the 30-year-old off-duty officer riding a Yamaha motorcycle.
The officer, a four-year veteran of the force, was working in the 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn.
The cop was thrown from his motorcycle, which kept on going down the highway, slamming into a wall and exploding into flames, video posted on social media shows.
Almanzar Toribio never stopped. It wasn’t immediately clear if he knew he had collided with anyone.
Medics rushed the officer to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn but he could not be saved. The officer’s name was not immediately released.
Cops shut down the westbound lanes of the expressway for several hours Wednesday as they investigated the crash.
Almanzar Toribio’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending Thursday.
