A Jamaica man was sentenced to 28.5 years to life in prison on Tuesday for a fatal hit-and-run collision on Mother’s Day 2022 that killed a woman in front of her daughter on a narrow, dead-end street where she lived in South Jamaica.
Roosevelt Rose, 59, of 89th Avenue, was convicted by a jury in July of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, criminal mischief in the third degree and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting. The jury deliberated for just two hours before reaching the guilty verdict in the killing of 49-year-old Florence Ngwu, a mother of four.
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. At approximately 8:30 a.m., 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 damage.
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 Rose turned the pickup parallel to the avenue to drive away, he accelerated and struck a parked Chevrolet Equinox SUV, pushing 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.
Rose ditched the stolen pickup truck about a mile and a half away at 108th Avenue and 164th Place in St. Albans. Video surveillance captured him exiting the truck and walking away. Following an investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad, Rose was apprehended four days later and booked at the 113th Precinct.
“The defendant behaved recklessly to the point of depravity and without regard for the consequences of his actions on Mother’s Day 2022 when he hit two parked cars while driving a commercial pickup truck — causing one vehicle to strike and kill Florence Ngwu,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Prior to that day, Roosevelt Rose had never operated a vehicle of this size and power.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise, who presided at trial, sentenced Rose to 28.5 years to life in prison.
“We hope that today’s sentence brings comfort and solace to Florence Ngwu’s family,” Katz said.
