A Long Island City woman was fatally struck by an unlicensed driver in Dutch Kills on Sunday afternoon and the motorist from St. Albans was arrested near the scene of the collision.
Police from the 114th Precinct in Astoria responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck at the intersection of 39th Avenue and 30th Street just before 12:50 p.m. on Aug. 31, where they found the 38-year-old victim lying next to the crosswalk with severe body trauma. EMS rushed her to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, where she was pronounced dead, police said. She was later identified as Desiree Soto of 29th Street in Long Island City, according to the criminal complaint.
Further investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that the woman was crossing 30th Street at 39th Avenue in the south crosswalk from east to west when she was struck by the 60-year-old man behind the wheel of a blue 2020 Ford Transit van.
Abdul Billah, of 188th Street in St. Albans, was taken into custody near the scene and booked at the 114th Precinct, where he was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield right-of-way. According to the criminal complaint, Billah told the arresting officer, “I was driving, I was making a right-hand turn, the pedestrian jumped out. I felt movement in the back, I hit her with the rear tire.”
Billah was arraigned on Sunday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Joanne Watters who ordered him to return to court on Oct. 1.
The investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad.
