Driver Charged after Killing Man in Hit-and-Run on Lexington Ave.

A 44 year-old man was killed in a hit-and-run on the Upper East Side in the wee hours of Friday, Mar. 20 after being ran over by a fuel truck that was reversing on Lexington Ave., police confirmed to Our Town.

Police subsequently arrested 33 year-old Vincent Spano, a resident of Palm Harbor, Florida. He was hit with charges including “leaving the scene of an accident resulting in a fatality” and “failure to use due care resulting in a serious injury.” He reportedly turned himself into a precinct in Brooklyn by 7 a.m., a few hours after the incident.

During his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, Spano was granted supervised release by Judge Jeffrey Gershuny. Prosecutors asked for a bail of $75,000 cash, $150K insurance company bond, and $150K partially secured surety bond. His next day in court is May 6.

Spano was said to be revering the green-and-red truck northbound against traffic, into Lexington’s intersection with E. 61st St., when he hit the victim—later as identified as Terrill Jenkins, of St. Nicholas Ave. in Harlem—while he was crossing the street. He then reportedly continued to reverse the truck, running Jenkins over.

Jenkins was discovered in critical condition at around 4:43 a.m., cops said. EMS rushed him to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, but he could not be saved.

According to details of Spano’s arraignment shared with Our Town by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, he reportedly disembarked from the fuel truck once he realized he hit something.

Upon discovering the severely injured Jenkins on the ground, a detective alleged, Spano didn’t offer any assistance—and instead got back in the truck and drove away. The detective said that they had reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby business depicting the incident.

A report in the Daily News notes that Jenkins—who worked at Home Depot for the past eight years, according to a certificate he recently received—called his coworkers after being severely injured. They reportedly “rushed out of the store to look for him but didn’t know where he was,” the victim’s uncle told the paper, “prolonging [Jenkins’s] agony.”

”We want justice,” Peter Mulligan added. “We would like to see the video, exactly what took place.”

Footage of police combing the scene for evidence, while shutting down the street for hours, was accessible on the social media app Citizen.

It is the second fatal accident in uptown Manhattan to occur in nine hours. Less than four miles away from the fatal Upper East Side crash, an out-of-control driver in Harlem piloting a red SUV reportedly struck several vehicles, including a police car. He also struck a 28 year-old e-bike delivery worker, police said, killing him.

Police said that 49 year-old Kevin Crosby left the scene, and was charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence. Cops believe he was high on PCP at the time.

The car was estimated to be driving at speeds in excess of 60 mph, and finally stopped when it crashed into a tractor-trailer truck on W. 125th St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd., just outside the Apollo Theater.