Alleged drunk driver accused of mowing down 11 in July 4th crash held without bail
The alleged drunk driver accused of mowing down 11 people at a Fourth of July celebration on the Lower East Side was ordered held without bail Saturday, as authorities revealed he was driving with a suspended license and tried to evade sobriety tests after the crash by closing his eyes.
Daniel Christopher Hyden faces 25 years or more behind bars on three counts of vehicular homicide for the gruesome incident which left three people dead and eight others, including an 11-year-old boy, hurt.
Hyden, 44, a substance abuse counselor who wrote a book called “The Sober Addict,” knew his license was suspended when he got behind the wheel Thursday night, prosecutors said during the Saturday morning arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Records showed his license had been suspended four times and had not been reinstated since Hyden had failed to acknowledge summonses that he’d received, authorities said in a criminal complaint. It’s unclear what tickets Hyden had ignored.
He appeared in court shackled, in the same white T-shirt he’d worn 24 hours earlier as police walked him out of the First Precinct, his face still visibly swollen from the apparent beating he received from what Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matt Bogdanos described as the “irate” crowd at the crash scene.
Hyden told police at Bellevue Hospital afterward that he “had a few alcoholic drinks,” according to the criminal complaint.
Lab results are still pending on Hyden’s blood alcohol content, authorities said, noting he refused breathalyzer tests after the crash and allegedly kept his eyes closed — so no one could see his bloodshot eyes.
“He even went so far as to close his eyes so that they could not test that,” Bogdanos told Judge Robert Mandelbaum. “And your honor, in a moment you’re going to see how it is the defendant knew so much about sobriety tests.
“Soon enough we’ll know exactly how drunk he was,” Bogdanos added while recounting Hyden’s lengthy rap sheet, which includes multiple convictions in Georgia, Wisconsin and New Jersey on charges ranging from driving with a suspended license to DWI to assault and criminal mischief.
“As for the defendant’s record and how he knows what to avoid in terms of field sobriety tests: If he’s lived in that state, he has a conviction for a suspended license,” Bogdanos contended.
Bogdanos then showed photos of the carnage at the intersection of Water Street and Jackson Street intersection, where Hyden is accused of driving his gray Ford F-150 over the sidewalk and into the crowd celebrating the holiday in the park just before fireworks began, police said.
“That damage is from striking 11 human beings,” Bogdanos said, adding, “So far, there’s three dead, Judge. One is still in critical condition and seven others were treated at the hospital — at four different hospitals. He struck so many people that it required four hospitals to treat all of them.
Hyden’s lawyer declined comment after the Saturday morning arraignment.
In his book, Hyden painted himself as a well-meaning substance abuse counselor and positive example for others struggling with addiction.
Police believe Hyden got into a fight with a bouncer at a downtown bar Thursday night after he was refused entry for already being too drunk, law-enforcement sources said.
The bouncer agreed to refund him for the ticket to the Fourth of July party and sent him on his way about an hour before the deadly crash at nearby Corlears Hook Park, the sources said.
Surveillance footage showed the truck barreling down the street with no signs of slowing down at the intersection just before the crash.
The wreck claimed the lives of Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Herman Pinkney, 38 — who lived together near the crash scene — and Ana Morel, 43.
The other eight injured included Herman’s longtime girlfriend Jessica Pellot and her 11-year-old son, Jakob Velazquez, who relatives told The Post was “traumatized” by the loss of his father figure.
Thomas Curto, who was in court for the arraignment, noted his nephew is friends with Jakob and the boy was released from the hospital on Friday and was “holding up,” despite the loss of his stepfather and his mother.
It angered Curto that Hyden refused to lift his head during the proceeding. “He should have never been on the streets,” Curto fumed.
Hyden, a former New Jersey resident, currently lives in The Bronx, according to neighbors.
