Driver of drug-filled stolen car in NYC double-fatal already faced charges from earlier crash: cops, records
The suspect, identified by sources as Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a license in the April 13 Brooklyn crash, which reportedly left a 22-year-old pedestrian with injuries including to her face and neck.
Romero was nabbed in that crash the next day with the help of a witness, the Daily News said — only to be dumped right back on the street after her arraignment thanks to the state's bail-reform laws, court records show.
5 A stolen car slammed into two bystanders near the Manhattan Bridge on Saturday morning, killing both.
William Farrington
5 The driver of the stolen car in the fatal wreck was carried off by police after fleeing the scene and getting caught, cops said.
William Farrington
Then around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Romero was behind the wheel of a booze- and drug-filled stolen blue Chevy Malibu when it plowed into a man on a bicycle and a 63-year-old woman on a bench at Bowery and Canal streets in Manhattan, killing both before slamming into an NYPD van, police said.
Romero and her alleged passenger, 22-year-old Kennedy LaCraft, fled the scene but were quickly nabbed nearby, cops said.
LaCraft was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, an NYPD spokesman said.
Charges against Romero were pending, sources told The Post.
5 The speeding car plowed into two people and then into an empty NYPD van in Chinatown on Saturday morning.
William Farrington
5 Police said a man in his 30s on a bicycle and a 63-year-old woman sitting on a bench were both killed in the crash.
William Farrington
The Brooklyn DAs Office did not immediately respond to a Post request for information on the earlier incident, but records show Romero was arraigned and released April 14 with a court date for it Aug. 5.
In the Saturday morning crash, the car had been rented but not returned and thus been reported stolen, police said.
Cops said the car, which was supposed to be returned to Enterprise 17 days earlier, was packed with 'booze and drugs,' including pills, marijuana and a bottle of alcohol, police sources said.
Police did not identify the man killed on his bike, but the other fatal victim was ID'd by her brother as Mary Kwok, 63.
Her sibling, Peter Kwok, told The Post his sister was sitting on a bench when she was struck and killed.
5 The driver of the car, identified as Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero, already had a pending case involving a crash.
William Farrington
'That's her hangout spot,' he said. 'She goes to church in Chinatown.'
He said his sister struggled with mental illness in recent years and would sometimes leave the home in the wee hours.
'I had thought about the scenario, you know, what could happen to her,' Peter said. 'You know, in the city anything can happen like that.'
Additional reporting by Marie Pohl
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