Guyanese man dies after driver rams into crowd on New York sidewalk

Dec 04, 2017 News

A Guyanese man died yesterday when an irate driver slashed two men and then plowed into a half-dozen people on a sidewalk during an early-morning parking dispute in Queens, New York, United States.
Dead is Ricardo Chatergoon, 22, who moved to the United States from Guyana about 18 months ago and lived in Far Rockaway with his family.
According to the New York Post, cops took a 22-year-old into custody after he went to the same hospital as one of his victims and the victim pointed him out to police.
Reports are that the incident started around 4:30 a.m. on Liberty Avenue near 127th street, when a man in a white Hyundai Sonata got into a parking-related argument with two guys ages 28 and 29 who were in a parked BMW, NYPD Assistant Chief David Barrere said during a press conference held at the scene.
A friend of the pair who asked not to be identified told The Post they were out celebrating the younger man’s birthday and that the Sonata driver had tapped their bumper and left them no room to get out of their parking space.
The dust-up ended with the driver of the Sonata slashing the 28- and 29-year-old, Barrere said.
A group of people outside a nearby hookah lounge intervened and quelled the melee before walking east on Liberty Avenue towards 128th Street, he said.
Seconds later, the crazed motorist zoomed after them on Liberty Avenue, mounting the sidewalk at 128th Street and ramming into six people — including one of the men he allegedly just stabbed — before speeding off, according to officials.
The incident does not appear terror-related, Barrere said.

Dead: Richardo Chattergoon

The scene of a fatal hit-and-run in Queens (N.Y. Post photo)

A neighbor recalled hearing the tumult before looking out her window to see the carnage.
“I hear the kids running on the sidewalk their — shoes pounding on the sidewalk like they’re racing — and then I hear the car hitting the people: ‘thump, thump,’” said Mariam Severno, 53, whose second-floor Liberty Avenue apartment is right above the crime scene. “One woman was running for her life and she got away — she did not get hit. The rest were laying around.”
Some of the victims’ friends pursued the man in a Nissan Rogue, mounting the sidewalk themselves as they chased him, police said. That vehicle has been impounded, but the drivers have not been charged with a crime, according to police.
The Sonata driver got away and walked into Jamaica Hospital about 15 minutes later at 4:45 a.m., complaining he had been cut on the hand in a fight. But police took him into custody after one of the people he allegedly ran over, who was also being treated at Jamaica Hospital, fingered him.
The man injured a total seven people — he stabbed two and hit six with his car, including one man he had stabbed, according to Barrere.
One victim struck died at the scene, where his worried parents found him Sunday morning after searching the hospital with no luck.

Family of hit-and-run victim at the scene of the tragedy (N.Y. Post photo)

“Oh my god, that’s my son,” gasped Sundar Chatergoon as he and his wife spied their child Ricardo Chatergoon, 22, laying lifeless on the sidewalk with a sheet covering him.
“That’s his green sweater — those are his black sneakers. Oh my god that’s him.”
The devastated father said he and his wife first rushed to the hospital where the injured had been taken, only to learn Ricardo was not there.
“No one knew where my son was,” Sundar told The Post. “We could not find him anywhere. We have not heard from him. That’s why we came here. We knew he was here last night.”
One of the men who was stabbed and run over is in critical condition with severe head injuries, according to Barrere. His pal went to the hospital with knife wounds.
The others hospitalized include a 29-year-old man with a head injury, a 27-year-old with a hurt leg, a 29-year-old man with a broken pelvis and a 20-year-old woman who suffered a broken leg.

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