A pickup truck driver who allegedly mowed down a 75-year-old woman using a walker to cross a Queens street last month has been charged with criminally negligent homicide for her death, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Rony Zino, 27, was accused of ramming into Linda Lee Hirsch with his 2020 Dodge Ram at the corner of 60th Road and Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood at around 11 a.m. on Oct. 11, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Hirsch, of Seale, Alabama, underwent surgery at Elmhurst Hospital Center but could not be saved.
She succumbed to her injuries on Oct. 20, and her death was ruled a homicide, cops said.
Zino also faces raps of failure to yield, failure to signal, failure to exercise due care and reckless driving, and could face up to four years behind bars, if convicted, prosecutors said.
“We have too often seen the tragic results of reckless driving when motorists ignore the rules of the road,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“It is incumbent upon anyone who gets behind the wheel to follow the law, including yielding to pedestrians,” she added. “We will hold this defendant accountable for his actions.”
Video surveillance of the fatal collision showed that Zino stopped his truck at a red light at the corner of 60th Road and Fresh Pond Road, prosecutors said.
Once the light turned green, he waited about seven seconds before turning onto northbound Fresh Pond Road, where he struck Hirsch — who had the right of way and was using a walker, according to the DA’s office.
The impact caused the senior to fall and hit her head on the pavement, ultimately causing her death nine days later, prosecutors said.
Zino, of Flushing, remained at the scene after the collision and was not hurt during the ordeal, police said.
The NYPD arrested him on Monday morning.
Queens Supreme Court Judge Stephanie Zaro ordered Zino held on $75,000 bail at his arraignment on the indictment in Queens Criminal Court Tuesday.
He is required to return to court on Dec. 8.
