Bail for ‘DWI killer’
Charged with murder in dragging death
An allegedly drunken driver charged with murdering a Brooklyn man by dragging him under his van for two blocks was sprung on $50,000 bail.
David Cruz, 55, was arraigned Saturday by Judge Robin Sheares in the Thursday night incident that killed a 69-year-old Coney Island man.
“This judge is putting the public in danger by releasing this murder suspect, and she set such low bail that he could well flee to evade justice. Her decision is shocking and irresponsible,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.
But Cruz’s lawyer, Michael Farkas, argues the Bay Ridge run-in that left victim Gavriel Mardakhayev dead wasn’t murder at all.
“This case appears to have been overcharged. What happened here was tragic, but not intentional. It was not murder,” Farkas said in a statement.
“Just from listening to the witnesses who spoke with the media, and looking at the video of a portion of the event, it is entirely likely that Mr. Cruz did not realize that he had struck, much less dragged, someone,” he claimed.
The tragedy unfolded Thursday around 9:15 p.m. when Cruz hit Mardakhayev’s silver sedan with his white 2012 Ford E350 van and drove off, police said.
Enraged, Mardakhayev followed Cruz and cornered him at the intersection of Third Avenue and 65th Street in Bay Ridge. It is unclear how far Mardakhayev chased Cruz.
When the Brooklyn resident got out of his car to confront Cruz about the fender-bender, Cruz allegedly mowed him down and dragged him underneath his car for two blocks before stopping at Third Avenue and 67th Street, cops said.
Cruz was arrested and had a blood alcohol level of 0.109 percent four hours later, according to a criminal complaint. The legal standard for drunken driving in New York is 0.08 percent.
He was charged with second-degree murder, drunken driving and reckless driving.
The victim died at NYU Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Cruz, who worked as a project manager for a commercial construction company, was described as a “quiet” and “respectful” man by his roommate.
“I’m shocked. I never saw him get mad about anything,” said Khalil Jabrane, 30, who lived with Cruz in an apartment in Bay Ridge for several months. “He listened to music a lot, so he pretty much stayed in his room. He never bothered me.”
Cruz “is devastated that his actions may have caused the death of another human being, and he offers his sincere condolences to the victim’s family,” Farkas said.