Police on Monday charged the driver of a vehicle that careened into two people in Manhattan’s Chinatown early Saturday with murder, manslaughter and other offenses, as she remained in the hospital.
Police said 23-year-old Autumn Romero was also charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a weapon and leaving the scene of an accident. Prosecutors have said police recovered two semiautomatic 9mm pistols and 9mm ammunition from a box in the trunk following the deadly crash.
Separately, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a criminal complaint that 22-year-old passenger Kennedy Lecraft had rented the blue Chevrolet Malibu sedan from an Enterprise Rent-A-Car on June 29 but never returned it. Lecraft was arraigned Monday morning on charges including unauthorized use of a vehicle, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal possession of a weapon.
The judge set Lecraft's bail at $150,000 cash or $300,000 bond. She is due back in court on July 24.
NYPD officials have identified the victims as 55-year-old Kevin Cruickshank of Manhattan, who was riding a bike at the time, and 63-year-old May Kwok of Brooklyn, who was sitting on a bench near the intersection of Canal Street and Bowery. Both were pronounced at the scene, where debris was strewn across the street.
Prosecutors said the car was traveling westbound off the Manhattan Bridge at a “high rate of speed” around 7:30 a.m. Saturday when it struck Cruickshank, Kwok and an unoccupied NYPD vehicle parked nearby.
Romero was in the hospital Monday awaiting arraignment on her charges.
Lecraft’s lawyer Jacob Kaplan declined to comment and attorney information for Romero was not yet available.
This story has been updated with additional information.
