A southeast Queens man is facing 25 years to life in prison after he was convicted by a jury of murder, assault and other related charges for a fatal hit-and-run collision that killed a mom on Mother’s Day 2022 on a South Jamaica dead-end street.
Roosevelt Rose, of 89th Avenue in Jamaica, was found guilty on July 31 in Queens Supreme Court after the jury deliberated for just two hours before reaching the verdict in the killing of 49-year-old Florence Ngwu, a mother of four, who was struck outside her home in a crash that was witnessed by her daughter.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on the morning of Sunday, May 8, 2022, Rose was driving a stolen white 2019 Ford F-550 pickup truck on 120th Avenue. The vehicle belonged to a construction company, and Rose had never driven such a truck before that day. He attempted to turn the truck around on the narrow dead-end street by executing a three-point turn in front of Florence Ngwu’s home when he struck a BMW belonging to Ngwu’s daughter, 24-year-old Princess Ngwu. The noise of the collision drew both the mother and her daughter outside the house after they called the police to report the crash.
According to the charges, instead of exiting the truck, Rose was seen on video surveillance footage as he continued to try to turn the pickup truck around when he rammed the BMW a second time, causing significantly more damage to the daughter’s car. He ignored the shouts of bystanders telling him to stop. When he turned the pickup parallel to the avenue to drive away, he accelerated and struck a parked Chevrolet Equinox SUV and dragged it almost 15 feet without letting up. At the same time, Ngwu, her daughter, and a neighbor were walking away when Rose slammed the SUV into the three of them and sped away from the scene.
Ngwu was pinned against the Chevy and a parked 2021 Dodge Charger. Police from the 113th Precinct in Jamaica responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at the dead-end street and found Ngwu with trauma to her head and body. EMS rushed her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was initially listed in critical condition but succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead the next day.
“On Mother’s Day, a daughter watched as her mother was fatally injured by a driver who had already hit a car repeatedly while making a three-point turn and then hit another vehicle,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “To continue to drive after so many collisions was remarkable. He then drove away in an attempt to escape any accountability.”
Rose ditched the stolen pickup truck about a mile and a half away at 108th Avenue and 164th Place in St. Albans. Following an investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad, Rose was apprehended four days later and booked at the 113th Precinct.
Trial openings began on July 23 and summations took place on Thursday, July 31. The jury found Rose guilty of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, criminal mischief, and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise set the sentencing date for Oct. 7.
“The depraved indifference shown by the defendant was extraordinary,” Katz said. “The defendant was found guilty of murder and is facing up to 25 years to life in prison.”
