Bust MTA bus driver in fatal hit-and-run

BY CLAYTON GUSE, THOMAS TRACY AND ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

An MTA bus driver was arrested after a three-week probe for callously fleeing the scene of a Staten Island crash where a 69-year-old pedestrian was killed, police said Wednesday.

Darrell Sweet, 52, was charged Tuesday with driving away following the fatal incident — and later driving past the scene as investigators began their probe into the felony case, according to police. He was released without bail following his arraignment in Staten Island Criminal Court.

Investigators at first were unsure if Sweet realized he had struck somebody, but court documents charge he knew what happened.

“I should have stopped,” he acknowledged to cops, while the court papers noted Sweet “did drive away from the scene without stopping or reporting the incident.”

The driver, a 15-year MTA veteran, was removed from duty without pay pending a predisciplinary suspension, officials said.

“What happened was tragic,” said Frank Annicaro, the MTA’s head of buses. “We cooperated fully with the NYPD investigation and will have no further comment as the justice system does its work.”

Sweet, behind the wheel of a SIM10 bus heading east on Forest Hill Road, turned left onto Platinum Ave. and struck Patrick Varriale, who was crossing the intersection, about 4:35 a.m. on May 13, police said.

Varriale, who lived a quarter mile away, died at the scene as Sweet drove off, authorities said. The driver did not report to police or his supervisors what had happened, though cops quickly learned of his involvement and took him in for questioning that day.

Front-facing cameras on the bus were functioning and were turned over to police, MTA sources said.

Varriale, survived by his wife, son and two grandchildren, was a longtime employee of the American Federation of Musicians at their offices in Midtown.