An Ozone Park man was sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars for manslaughter in a high-speed hit-and-run that killed a man on Woodhaven Boulevard in July 2019, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
David Garcia, 29, of 97th Avenue pleaded guilty on May 20 to manslaughter in the second degree before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Karen Gopee, who imposed the indeterminate term of 3 ⅓ to ten years in prison.
According to the charges, on July 25, 2019 at approximately 5 a.m Garcia was heading southbound on Woodhaven Boulevard behind the wheel of a 2019 black BMW. Garcia was speeding and at one point hit speeds as high as 92 mph.
He drove through the intersection at 91st Avenue as the light turned red.
The victim, Sivananaitha Perumal, 56, was on his way to his job at Dunkin’ Donuts and walking across Woodhaven Boulevard just as Garcia approached the intersection.
The impact killed Perumal and Garcia fled the scene but was arrested two weeks later, according to the charges.
“The defendant’s blatant disregard of the rules of the road resulted in a family’s tragic loss of a hardworking father and husband,” Katz said. “The sentence imposed today by the court brings a measure of justice and punishes this defendant for his selfish choices while driving on the streets of Queens County.”
