Monday, August 27, 2007










Another Drunk driver kills a Mexican man outside NYC restaurant. Would the Media will make a National Issue out of this crime or just will be hidden because is an American Citizen who kills a Mexican Citizen?

A drunken driver crashed into a delivery van parked near Sheridan Square in Manhattan Saturday morning, killing one man and seriously injuring two others as they unloaded vegetables outside a restaurant, police said.

Van owner Victor Bravo, speaking from St. Vincent's Hospital, described the crash outside the Mercadito Grove restaurant, near the intersection of Grove Street and Seventh Avenue.

He said he, his younger brother and two others had just finished dropping off a load of vegetables about 7:20 a.m. and were preparing to leave when a silver SUV came down the street "at more than 50 miles per hour."

The Lincoln Aviator hit Antonio Hernandez and a co-worker as they stood behind the van, crushing the men and the rear of the Ford Econoline. "The guy came too fast and they had no time to run inside or something," said Bravo, who was standing on the sidewalk and was uninjured.

Hernandez, 36, of Brooklyn, died at the scene. The other worker, whom Bravo identified as Luis, 35, received injuries to both legs. Bravo's brother, Augusto, 26, who was inside the van when it was struck, had back and neck injuries, and a cut on his face. "It's all in my head right now," Bravo said. "I've never seen anything like this before."

Bravo watched as the SUV's driver, identified as Christian Robinson, 35, of East Orange, N.J., climbed out of his vehicle, where both air bags had deployed, and walked slowly around, apparently uninjured. "He just put his hand on his head and said, 'Oh my God,'" Bravo said. Robinson was arrested at the scene and charged with drunken driving. Additional charges are pending, police said.

Bravo, who runs his delivery business, Victor Produce, from East Fourth Street in the Kensington area of Brooklyn, said he and Hernandez worked during the week at a warehouse and that Hernandez often helped him out on weekends. Hernandez, originally from Tlaxcala in Mexico, has a 17-year-old son and a brother in the United States. His wife and three other children live in Mexico, Bravo said.

Isaac Zakouto, 60, who works at Pennyfeathers Café, an Italian restaurant near Mercadito Grove, was wiping down tables Saturday morning when he heard what he said sounded like a "bumper to bumper" accident. Zakouto saw one man lying in the back of the van, and that he stayed there for 15 minutes or so before an ambulance arrived.

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