Driver ‘trying to defend’ his young girls charged for mowing down tire slasher in NYC road-rage incident
The motorist who allegedly mowed down a pickup truck driver who slashed his tires during a road-rage clash on the Upper East Side has been charged with manslaughter, police said Thursday.
Andre Mosby, 26, was behind the wheel of a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta on East 60th Street near Park Avenue when he tapped the back of a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck driven by Roberto Velez Alvarez, 54, around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, police said.
The two men started arguing over the minor fender bender — and the feud quickly escalated, police said.
Velez Alvarez, of Franklin Square, Nassau County, got out of his truck and slashed Mosby’s tires, according to police.
Mosby then allegedly slammed the accelerator on his Jetta and plowed into the older man.
Velez Alvarez was thrown across the sidewalk and slammed into a storefront, shattering the glass windows.
Mosby — who had three kids in the car along with his girlfriend — told cops he was defending himself against the knife-wielding man, according to a police source.
Witnesses said responding firefighters “violently” performed CPR on the older man and put him on a gurney.
He was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center, but could not be saved, police said.
Mosby, whose address is listed as a shelter in Midtown, was arrested at the scene and also faces an assault charge, authorities said.
Witnesses told The Post the Jetta driver was likely trying to protect two young girls inside the car from the tire-slashing assailant.
One of the staff members from a nearby restaurant came out to bring water for Mosby’s family, witness Jay Aha recalled.
“Someone from the restaurant mentioned, ‘Oh, the guy stabbed the tires and [the Jetta driver] was just kind of trying to defend himself.’ ”
Mosby has two prior arrests — one for robbery in the Bronx from 2017, in which he and an accomplice punched a victim in the face and stole $400, cops said.
He also has a subway fare evasion bust from 2016, police said.
Velez Alvarez had no prior arrests in the Big Apple.
