It’s a tragic story involving a teenager accused of drinking and getting behind the wheel, a combination that proved deadly for a taxi driver. Police say the 19-year old slammed into a cab on the Grand Central Parkway near exit 17 and then took off, but police tracked him down. News 4’s Andrew Siff has more from the Tremont section…
A cab driver has died after a teenage driver slammed into the back of his taxi in Queens and fled the scene early Sunday morning, police said.
The yellow cab was heading westbound on the Grand Central Parkway just after 3 a.m., when it was struck by a Honda sedan, causing the taxi to hit the parkway median, police said.
The cab driver, identified by police as 38-year old Ansumana Dukuly, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police tracked down 19-year-old Roberto Depena, the driver of the Honda, soon after he fled the accident. Police say detectives used Depena's bumper, which came off during the accident, to trace his license plate and arrest him at his home.
Depena has been charged with manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, criminally negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated.
Family members outside Dukuly's Bronx apartment said he was originally from Liberia and moved to New York seven years ago. He had a wife and 9-year-old daughter. They described him as a hardworking, quiet and prayerful man.
"We don't know what to say because he never deserved to die like that," said Dukuly's cousin Fatama Kamara.
