Criminal charges against a man with a suspended driver’s license accused of killing a 3-year-old boy with his pickup truck and injuring the child’s mother were upgraded to manslaughter on Wednesday.
“Not only was the defendant driving recklessly with no regard for pedestrians, but he did so knowing his driver’s license had been suspended. This type of abhorrent conduct is why my office is pushing for legislation that enhances criminal accountability for vehicular violence and keeps reckless drivers off the road,” Vance said in a statement.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced the indictment of JAIME SABOGAL, 60, for striking two pedestrians in a crosswalk with his pick-up truck in East Harlem, killing 3-year-old Bertin DeJesus and injuring his mother, while driving with a suspended license.
“Our laws are fundamentally broken when it takes the death of a fellow New Yorker to get a driver with a history of reckless conduct off the road, as is demonstrated in this case,” said District Attorney Vance.
“We’re here today at a moment in time when, overall, our City and State have never been safer. But at this moment when other types of crime are dropping to historic lows across New York, we are experiencing an epidemic of vehicular violence that has killed 28 of our Manhattan neighbors year-to-date, and injured thousands more. A New Yorker today is more likely to be killed by a car than with a knife or a gun.”
