By Christina Santucci
BRIARWOOD — A Maspeth truck driver was arraigned on a manslaughter charge after a Springfield Gardens woman who had been clinging to the door of the truck he had been driving fell and died from her injuries early Saturday, according to court documents and police.
Carl Alvear, 34, was charged with manslaughter in the death of 31-year-old Latrisha Been, police said. Alvear allegedly had been drinking with Been before the pair got into an argument, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Queens district attorney’s office.
Alvear then got behind the wheel of the truck and tried to shut the passenger side door while Been was still holding onto it, the complaint said. When he started driving and made a right turn, Been fell off and tumbled to the pavement, the complaint said.
Emergency responders had been called to he Van Wyck Expressway in front of a Jamaica motel at about 4:45 a.m. for a report of a pedestrian hit by a vehicle, police said. There, they found Been, who was taken to Jamaica Hospital, across the highway, and pronounced dead, the NYPD said.
Initially, authorities had said they were searching for a hit-and-run truck driver. A spokeswoman for the NYPD confirmed Sunday that Alvear had not been charged with fleeing the scene of the accident in front of the Best Western Jamaica Inn, at 87-07 Van Wyck Expwy.
