A Brooklyn man has been arrested and charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run collision near JFK Airport that killed a Manhattan man in March, as well as for unrelated weapons and driving offenses.
Hutton December, 44, of Watkins Street in Brownsville, was taken into custody on Wednesday, Dec. 4, after a 113th Precinct officer in Jamaica observed him driving a gray GMC van while looking at his cell phone near North Conduit Avenue and Inwood Street in South Jamaica, according to the criminal complaint.
When pulled over, December was unable to produce a valid driver’s license. A DMV check revealed his license had been suspended twice, most recently on Nov. 14. He was arrested, and his van was impounded. Later that day, while inspecting the vehicle, another officer discovered a multi-colored backpack hanging from the driver’s seat. Inside, they found a green ripped pouch containing a .38-caliber silver handgun loaded with eight rounds of ammunition.
A subsequent NYPD database check linked December to an ongoing investigation into a fatal hit-and-run collision on Sunday, March 31, near the Nassau Expressway and JFK Expressway, not far from where he was pulled over on Dec. 4.
On that day, NYPD Highway District officers responded to a 911 call just before 1:30 p.m. They determined that 68-year-old U Fo Ng of East Broadway on Manhattan’s Lower East Side had parked his Honda CRV on the shoulder of the Nassau Expressway when it was struck by a box truck whose driver failed to navigate the roadway. The impact caused Ng’s vehicle to hit him, and the box truck fled the scene. EMS responded to the location and rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Detectives identified the box truck as a blue and white 1998 Ford E350 registered in Florida to Hutton December.
Following his Dec. 4 arrest, December admitted during questioning, “It was me who was driving. I was at a party, I was driving home, I remember hitting something.” He added, “I stopped to push my mirror and then kept going.” He told investigators he noticed the damage to the truck the following morning.
“I had a few drinks, and I smoked at the party, and I did not report the incident,” December said.
December was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Dec. 5. He faces charges including leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and driving without a license. In a separate case, he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, an armed felony offense, and criminal possession of a firearm.
Queens Criminal Court Judge Julieta Lozano set bail at $30,000 cash or $90,000 bond for each case.
