Three suspects surrendered in the fatal hit-and-run of a city Department of Correction worker whose car they struck while they sped near Yankee Stadium with a stash of stolen catalytic converters in their BMW’s trunk, police said Friday.
The trio turned themselves in at the 44th Precinct stationhouse hours after the deadly wreck that killed Cathy Garcia, 69, shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday as she drove to work along E. 161st St..
After the crash, the suspects jumped from their damaged 2022 BMW X6 SUV and ran from the scene, cops said.
The driver, Carlos Hernandez, 24, of Queens, was accompanied by Manhattan residents Edwin Ampero, 29, and Atahualda Rodriguez, 28, at the Bronx station house where they were arrested at 1:20 a.m. Friday, police said.
Hernandez was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of stolen property, cops said.
The scene after a woman was killed in a deadly wreck outside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. The car that struck her Mitsubishi was a BMW filled with stolen catalytic converters, police said. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)
Ampero and Rodriguez were both arrested on charges of criminal possession of stolen property and possession of burglar tools, the NYPD said.
Authorities said the three bolted from their vehicle as first responders arrived and rushed Garcia to Lincoln Hospital, where she died.
Garcia had worked in the Applicant Investigation Unit of the city Department of Correction since February 2018, according to department officials.
“We are heartbroken to learn that a member of our DOC family was tragically taken from us Thursday while on her way to work,” Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina said Friday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Garcia’s loved ones as we mourn the loss of our colleague.”
Garcia was driving a 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander when it was T-boned by the speeding BMW, cops and witnesses said.
The force of the crash tore a wheel from the driver’s side of the vehicle, cops and eyewitnesses said.
Investigators recovered a dozen catalytic converters from the BMW’s trunk. The converters are a target for thieves, and scrap yards pay up to $250 for the devices to recover the semi-precious metals inside, including platinum, palladium and rhodium.
The converters, which can cost up to $2,000 to replace, are designed to control auto exhaust emissions.
An NYPD crackdown on the thefts began this summer, with the auto crime unit launching a program where car owners can get a serial number etched into their converters and logged with police.
Copyright © 2022, New York Daily News
Copyright © 2022, New York Daily News