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The victim was hit at the intersection of Murray Street and 17th Road.
By Forum Staff
A 71-year-old man was critically injured on a Thanksgiving Day after a drunk driver, with a suspended license, mowed him down on a Whitestone street and fled the scene.
Carmine Minichino, 52, of 46th Avenue in Corona, was arraigned last Friday. He is charged with speeding through a stop sign while under the influence of alcohol, critically injuring Paul Sim, and then fleeing the scene.
Authorities say Sim was out walking on Thanksgiving around 6:45 p.m. when Minichino went speeding through a stop sign in his 2009 white Chevy van, and struck Sim. The senior was thrown several feet upon impact and after the initial hit, as was subsequently run over by the van, after which the driver sped away.
Sim was taken to a local hospital with a compound fracture to his right leg and bleeding on the brain, which doctors say, will require several extensive surgeries to repair.
Minichino was charged with second-degree assault, second-degree vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting/serious physical injury, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for a stop sign and driving by unlicensed operator.
Bail was set at $100,000 bond/$50,000 cash. He was ordered to return to court on December 11, 2017. If convicted, Minichino faces up to seven years in prison.
Minichino abandoned his van a short distance away and fled on foot. He later returned with keys in hand to retrieve the vehicle, and had a moderate odor of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot and watery eyes. Police requested his driver’s license, and he was unable to produce a valid license. An intoxilyzer exam was administrated to Minichino at the 112th Precinct and that the results of that exam indicated that he had a .152% or more of alcohol in his bloodstream – nearly twice the legal limit of .08 in New York City.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant in this case is alleged to have not only hit a pedestrian, but then selfishly left the scene without offering any assistance to the victim. It is alleged that he abandoned his vehicle a short distance away and then returned to the scene with his keys in hand to retrieve the vehicle. If convicted, the defendant faces a lengthy term of incarceration.”
