Driver runs light & pal dies in B’klyn crash
A 33-year-old man riding in a Mercedes-Benz was killed on his birthday when the luxury car slammed into an MTA bus in Brooklyn, cops and family said Tuesday.
Alex Caba-Gutierrez was ejected from the speeding red Mercedes after its driver blew a red light and was struck by the B48 bus at the corner of Harrison Ave. and Lorimer St. in Williamsburg about 9:45 p.m. Monday, cops said.
Video of the crash shows the Mercedes zipping into the intersection just inches ahead of the oncoming bus. The bus struck the rear passenger side of the sedan, sending it spinning out of control onto the sidewalk.
Caba-Gutierrez was thrown from a backseat window on the right hand side and landed on the asphalt, cops said.
The car then slammed into a Citi Bike kiosk, cops said.
As Caba-Gutierrez lay dying in the street, the car’s driver and three others in the mangled wreck ran off on foot, police and MTA source said.
EMS rushed Caba-Gutierrez to Bellevue Hospital, where he died. Cops were searching Tuesday for the car’s driver.
The 31-year-old bus driver and a male passenger was taken to Wyckoff Medical Center with minor injuries. No other injuries were reported.
Caba-Gutierrez “was full of life. He had a lot of friends,” said Olga Caba, 54, the dead man’s mother.
Of the Mercedes-Benz’s driver, Olga Caba said: “I want him to turn himself in. He just left his friend to die. As a friend, you should want to stay and help.
“They ran away,” Caba said. “They left Alex alone.”
The victim’s brother, Maison Caba, 30, expressed anger at the Mercedes driver, who he said is known to his family, as is one of the passengers who ran from the scene.
“I think, you’re not going to leave your friend in the street to die. It’s horrible. It’s unfortunate,” Maison Caba said. “They’re wherever they need to be, trying to hide.”
Caba said his family was told by a pathologist that Caba-Gutierrez suffered massive injuries to his body. “He definitely made it to the hospital. He had a pulse in the ambulance,” he said. But his brother’s injuries were too severe to survive, Caba said.
Caba-Gutierrez was a good son, his grieving mother recalled. “He wasn’t a problematic kid,” Olga Caba said. “He had a lot of friends, but he never had problems.”