‘He needs to serve time’
Driver charged with manslaughter in bloody 3-car crash
A driver who fatally struck a pedestrian and three vehicles in a horrendous Harlem crash has been charged with manslaughter, cops said Monday.
Alpha Diallo, 71, is accused of running a red light and slamming into 65-year-old Cleo Fields, sending him into the air, on Frederick Douglass Blvd. near W. 128th St. at about 12:55 p.m. Sunday.
Diallo was charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment and reckless driving, cops said Monday, and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Fields (photo), a loving grandfather, was half blind, walked with a cane and recently had surgery on his leg. His wife of 39 years, Romalda Fields, 65, never thought he would be the victim of a car crash.
“My husband never jaywalks,” said Romalda. “I just want justice.”
The grandfather was on his way to relatives to pick up rubbing alcohol for his leg when his life was cut short. Relatives had encouraged him to stay home and let his son drop it off but Fields wanted to get some fresh air, according to his wife.
The two were separated but remained best friends.
“He called me yesterday morning and told me he was coming,” said Romalda. “I told him to stay home. If he had stayed home, he would still be here today.”
Fields died at the scene, less than a mile from his home.
The mayhem began when Diallo, driving downtown in a 2017 Hyundai Sonata, veered into the lane of oncoming uptown traffic on Frederick Douglass Blvd., according to cops. He blew through a red light and collided with a black 2009 Infiniti making a left turn, obliterating both cars’ front ends.
“I saw a black Honda flying. It tried to cut off the Infiniti. Instead they collided,” witness Dameon Jones, 41, said Sunday. “When we heard the impact it was more like an explosion.”
The driver then struck Fields, who flew through the air and slammed on top of a parked white 2017 Infiniti Q705, according to police.
“He flew up past that light pole and came down,” Jones said. “That’s why the impact on that white car is so severe.”
The out-of-control driver went on to crash into the parked Infiniti, causing it to hit a parked 2003 Toyota Sequoia before finally coming to a stop, police said.
The victim’s son, Cleo Fields III, “froze up” when he heard about his father.
“He wanted me to be better than him,” he said. “”He knew life wasn’t going to get better unless you make it better.”
Fields, who also had a daughter, was described by relatives as a local handy man who “loved his family.”
“He taught really everything, right from wrong, how to live and how to take care of their own kids,” Romalda said. “He was a loving person and always good with his hands.”
His daughter, who declined to give her name, said she feels no sympathy for the man accused of killing her father.
“He needs to serve time. An apology isn’t going to bring him back,” the daughter said. “He needs to pay for that.”
Diallo and the Infiniti driver, a 27-year-old woman, were taken to Harlem Hospital with serious injuries, officials said.
Cops said Diallo, who lives in the South Bronx, was working as a livery driver. But Diallo is not licensed by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission to operate for-hire vehicles, according to a source.
Diallo, who has been cited multiple times for driving without the correct type of license, had applied for a TLC license but was denied.
The car was owned by Barrie Management LLC. A representative for the company told The News that they were aware Diallo did not have a TLC license but claimed he rented the car for “personal use” in exchange for cash.