An author on alcoholism was found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder by a Manhattan judge Monday for killing four when he drunkenly plowed his pickup truck into a July 4 celebration on the Lower East Side last year.
State Supreme Court Justice April Newbauer found Daniel Hyden, 44, guilty of the top counts he faced, aggravated vehicular homicide, and related charges for ramming his Ford F-150 into community members celebrating in Corlears Hook Park, less than an hour after he’d been denied access to a boat party by nearby Pier 36 because he was too drunk.
Newbauer heard testimony at the bench trial from loved ones and relatives of the dead who had been present for the festivities near the Vladeck Houses.
Hernan Pinkney, 38, his mother, Lucille Pinkney, 59, Ana Morel, 43, and 30-year-old Emily Ruiz were killed. There were children among the seven others injured, the court heard.
“Family and friends were enjoying a Fourth of July barbecue in Corlears Hook Park before their lives were drastically and tragically changed forever. Daniel Hyden was intoxicated when he drove through a fence, killing Lucille Pinkney, Herman Pinkney, Ana Morel, and Emily Ruiz, as well as injuring seven others,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“While this verdict won’t bring them back to life, I hope that this conviction can bring at least some measure of comfort for their friends and family.”
At the two-week trial, Newbauer heard Hyden was driving 39 mph when he accelerated through a stop sign, blasted through a construction zone, and jumped a sidewalk at speeds of up to 54 mph, continuing to plow through a chain link fence and into the crowd.
His foot was glued to the pedal, not switching to the brakes until half a second before hitting the group, according to trial evidence.
He then attempted to flee the scene, with bodies under his truck, before witnesses, including the childhood best friend of Hernan Pinkney, Hector Moreno, removed the key from the ignition. Moreno testified about laying into the driver after discovering him shirtless with his foot on the gas and no seat belt on.
The mother of 30-year-old victim Emily Ruiz, Liliana Ruiz, in a tearful account at the trial, had recalled watching the life drain from her daughter’s eyes as she lay crushed under the weight of Hyden’s truck, telling the judge, “I just thought, I’m watching my daughter die right now.”
Positing that the author from Monmouth, New Jersey, had been fully aware of the risks of drink driving and consciously did so anyway, prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos had quoted from Hyden’s book “The Sober Addict: A Guide on How to Be Functional With the Dysfunctional Disease of Addiction.”
“‘A real danger to others, my bike and myself when I was on the road intoxicated,’” Bogdanos read from the book in his opening statement on Oct. 20.
Hyden is set to be sentenced on Dec. 3 and faces a possible life sentence.