A 24-year-old driver was arrested for the brutal hit-and-run crash that killed a “loving” grandfather who was catapulted into the air and onto a Brooklyn street last month, police said.
Brian Macoto-Morales, of Homecrest, turned himself in at the 83rd Precinct Thursday morning and was slapped with several charges for allegedly mowing down Segundo Reina-Gaon, 74, as he crossed a Bay Ridge street on Sept. 11, according to police and sources.
Surveillance footage captured the moment Macoto-Morales’ white SUV slammed into Reina-Gaon — ramming the septuagenarian from the crosswalk into a parked car and then the pavement at Ridge Boulevard and Bay Ridge Avenue around 9 p.m.
The white SUV barreled into him as it sped northbound on Ridge Boulevard, police said.
EMTs rushed Reina-Gaon to NYU Langone Hospital/Brooklyn but he could not be saved.
A GoFundMe page created by his niece described him as a “loving father and spouse” who left behind 20 grandchildren and five kids.
One donor remembered Reina-Gaon as a kind neighbor.
“He watched our son grow up from a stroller to daycare and now walking to school,” Justin Hall wrote on the page. “He always had a smile on his face and asked how our son was even if he wasn’t with us.
“We will truly miss your smiling face every morning.”
After the deadly crash, Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), who represents the area, said the motorist needed “to be apprehended and prosecuted.”
“The video is hard to watch,” he wrote on X. “The driver doesn’t appear to even slow down.”
Macoto-Morales was charged with leaving the scene of an accident-result in death, leaving the scene of an accident-serious injury, reckless endangerment and failure to obey traffic device.
Police said he has no prior arrests.
He was arraigned Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Criminal Court and held on $75,000 bail, according to court records.
His next court date is set for Jan. 7.
