Man pleads guilty to 2006 fatal hit-and-run in Richmond Hill

A Queens mechanic has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the hit- and-run death of a 12-year-old boy after having left the scene of a minor car accident.
“What would have amounted to simply reporting a minor fender bender recklessly escalated into a deadly hit-and-run accident in which a young boy lost his life,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Hopefully this guilty plea will give some solace to the victim’s family and will serve as a measure of justice for a senseless death.”
Juan Franjul, 48, of 87-57 124th Street in Richmond Hill, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter. The defendant faces a minimum sentence of two to six years and a maximum sentence of three to nine years when he is sentenced on January 8, 2009.
According to the charges, an unnamed individual brought his dark blue 1993 Mercedes Benz 500 SEL to Met Auto Body, located at Northern Boulevard and 126th Street, some time between December 12 and December 13, 2006, and left the car with the defendant, the owner of the auto body shop.
At around 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 16, Franjul was driving the Mercedes westbound on Atlantic Avenue when he drove into the rear of a 1993 Toyota at the 111th Street intersection. Franjul said that he would pay to have the Toyota fixed and that there was no need for the driver to call the police. When the Toyota driver began using his cell phone to call a family member, the defendant got back into the Mercedes - without identifying himself or exchanging any personal information - and sped off westbound on Atlantic Avenue, a non-posted 30 miles-per-hour speed zone.
Three blocks later, at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and 108th Street, Franjul went through a steady red light at a speed of more than 40 to 50 miles per hour and hit 12-year-old Jacob Colon, of Richmond Hill, who was crossing the street, and then sped away without identifying himself. The victim, who was getting quarters for his mother to use at the laundromat, was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he later died.
Franjul was arrested when he surrendered to police at the 102nd Precinct on the next day. The Mercedes was recovered with front end damage from the driveway of a house under construction adjacent to the defendant’s residence.