Carlos Garcia-Ramos was 18 when he said goodbye to his mother in Mexico’s impoverished state of Guerrero in 2002. He never saw her again.
But she saw him one more time, or at least saw his frame in the morgue of Bellevue Hospital, the latest link in a chain of events that led from the town of Xochihuehuetlan to his death at the hands of a reckless, probably drunk. motive force with a knock and fugue on the fourth of December on W. 2fourth Street.
And now, beyond the incalculable pain she and her surviving children feel, they are also disadvantaged by the consequences: that the driver who killed Carlos is only charged with leaving the scene of the accident, angry that the pizzeria where Carlos worked thought he was an independent contractor ineligible for workers’ reimbursement despite six years of service. surprised that the driver has New York’s minimum insurance policy of only $50,000 in case of death, furious that he pleaded not guilty to the fees opposite him, and frustrated that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD did not release any information.
“We can’t perceive any of this,” said Jose Armando Garcia, 27, the victim’s younger brother.
The driving force that police say beat and killed Carlos, Edgar Maeda-Luca, pleaded not guilty at his Jan. 11 appearance for leaving the scene, a crime punishable by six years in prison but rarely leading to significant criminal sentences. The brothers do not understand why the driver was not also charged with recklessness or recklessness or undeniable indifference that caused Carlos’ death, or for alleged driving, given that officials told them at the hospital that the driver was drunk.
“He hit my brother at full speed,” Jose said. “He deserves to be accused of that too. And why was he never examined for being drunk?
Police said Maeda-Luca, 23, was driving east on W. 24th Street between Ninth and Eighth Avenues early in the morning of Dec. 4, and Garcia-Ramos in front of him, making a delivery of Joe’s Pizza, while he does an afternoon on his six-day-a-week work schedule. At a point near Eighth Avenue, Maeda-Luca passed the 38-year-old cyclist, struck the back of his motorcycle and sent him flying toward a parked car. Police added that Maeda-Luca continued driving (Garcia-Ramos’ motorcycle was still integrated into the front of his gray 2014 Infiniti) to the corner of Seventh Avenue, where he abandoned the car and fled on foot.
He lives on the same block and was later arrested through agents in District 10. At his arraignment last week, he pleaded not guilty to the fees and was released on $100,000 bail. The alleged driving or the fact that Maeda-Luca’s car had been hit with six speed camera violations and a red light price ticket in the 17 months prior to the crash were never mentioned.
In fact, city records show he won an expedited price ticket in Manhattan 20 minutes before police responded to a 911 call from a man, Garcia-Ramos, who was dying on the sidewalk of W. The radar that detected Maeda-Luca at 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, just two blocks from the crash site.
Nor was this discussed in the indictment.
If Maeda-Luca was really as the cops told the Garcia-Ramos family, he cannot be charged with driving because he fled the scene of the crime, allowing him to get away a bit before being arrested. Many advocates and law enforcement officials have pointed to the flaw in New York State law that encourages drivers to flee the scene of a crash because the penalty for fleeing is less than the penalty for getting stuck driving.
Maeda-Luca’s insurance company has already given the family the maximum amount of coverage: $50,000. Lawyers say the damage to the family may have earned them a six-figure settlement, but there’s no way to get reimbursement from a reckless man. A driving force that he himself has no significant assets.
Attorney Eric Malinowski, who is helping Garcia-Ramos’ circle of relatives with the insurance company and the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board, said the characteristics of the family circle are limited. he has no employee salary and Carlos is an independent contractor, even though he had been working there for six years, going from full-time delivery boy to kitchen clerk reliable enough to have a set of keys to a place to eat. Malinowski, of the Camacho Mauro lawyers’ corporation, predicted a long and slow process.
“He came here for a better life,” Martin Garcia, 40, told Streetsblog. “And now he’s dead, and the guy who killed him is free on bail.
“We just do justice,” Martin added.
(Maeda-Luca’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Garcia’s family circle created a GoFundMe page to seek donations. )
Filed Under: Butcher, NYPD, Traffic Compliance