The office of the Queens District Attorney announced that an ATV driver responsible for the death of a bicyclist in Ridgewood will be indicted for murder.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown confirmed that 24-year-old Ozone Park resident Sean Martin will be charged with murder, manslaughter and other crimes in the death of 65-year-old Eucario Xelo back in September. The Queens DA called the incident “an egregious and senseless act of depravity.”
QNS reported that Xelo was on his way home to Brooklyn westbound along Seneca Avenue approaching Woodbine Street. The cyclist was then approached by a group of two- and four-wheel vehicles when he Martin intentionally struck him with his ATV.
The defendant performed a maneuver called the “kick out” which caused the rear tires to kick outward and bump into the bicycle with its rear. Xelo hit his head on the pavement and was brought to Elmhurst Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Sept. 1.
Brown added that after Xelo fell, Martin did not make any attempts to help him. Instead, surveillance footage allegedly caught him approaching another victim on Summerfield Street and Cypress Avenue, but the cyclist swerved out of the way to avoid the strike.
“The defendant in this case is accused of using a trick maneuver to intentionally knock a 65-year-old rider from his bike. The victim in this case took every precaution to be safe,” said Brown. “He wore reflective gear to be seen by motorists, but none of that mattered when he rode from his job in Queens toward his home in Brooklyn early that morning. The defendant is alleged to have set out to knock the man from the bike and after succeeding, video surveillance shows him attempting the move with another cyclist just blocks away.
Police apprehended Martin on Sept. 14 and it was reported that he was also wanted for multiple crimes including burglary and assault.
Martin was arraigned this morning before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael B. Aloise, who held the defendant without bail and ordered him to return to court on Thursday, Dec. 13.
He was charged on eight counts, including second-degree murder, first-degree assault, first-and-second degree manslaughter, first-degree attempted assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and leaving the scene without reporting. If convicted, the young man can face up to 25 years to life in prison.
