On June 5, police said that pursuant to an ongoing investigation, Joshua Matthew, 18, of West 172^nd Street in the Mt. Eden section of The Bronx, was named as having been arrested and charged on May 28, at around 5 p.m. They said Matthew was charged with criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, unauthorized use of a vehicle in the third degree, and reckless driving.

 

We asked the NYPD if these charges were prior charges or if they related to the scooter collision on May 28. We did not receive an immediate response. Police had earlier confirmed that Dafney Juan from Manhattan had been identified as the deceased victim.

 

With collision investigations, the NYPD handles all criminal aspects of the investigation, while NYC Department of Transportation reviews the street design at the locations of such crashes.

 

Norwood News was present both on the day of the crash and again on Thursday, May 30, when we spoke to some residents of the area. One female resident who had seen a video of the incident and whose colleague translated from Spanish for her, said of the crash, “People are supposed to be careful on scooters because they were going too fast.”

 

Asked if the scooter riders had been wearing helmets, she said no. Asked if the scooter had been making a turn at the time of the crash, the resident said, “No.” She added, “This intersection is really, really dangerous because sometimes cars come through here fast.”

 

Another male resident said he witnessed the crash. Pointing southbound on University Avenue and in reference to Honda pilot, the man said, in part, “The car was coming from over here and they [the scooter riders] tried to pass the car fast.” He said the scooter overtook the car and added, “Since they were going too fast, they lost control.”

He added, “But the thing is, the car didn’t hit the scooter. They lost control and hit the pole. It’s not really his (the Honda Pilot driver) fault because they were going too fast, and when you’re on a scooter, by law, you’re supposed to wear a helmet.”

 

Another male resident of University Avenue called Notik who also witnessed the crash, said in part, “I heard the back of the moped screeching, and they [the scooter riders] made a sharp right, and they ended up bumping into the building on the corner and missed the whole street.”

 

Notik said he also witnessed the highly publicized crash on Aug. 23, 2023, that took place two blocks away from the latest crash in which local man Eric Duprey, 30, was killed when NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, 37, threw a water cooler at him during a drug bust operation as Duprey was attempting to leave the scene on a scooter, and as a result of being hit, ended up crashing, as previously reported. “I saw that whole thing too,” Notik said. “They threw the cooler at the Spanish guy that was riding the moped.”

 

Duran, an undercover member of the NYPD Narcotics Borough Bronx (NBBX) Tactical Response Unit, is currently facing manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault. The case is being handled by The Office of the New York Attorney General. Duran appeared in a Bronx court on May 16 and pled not guilty to the charges. The case is ongoing and Duran is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

Asked what he thought about the prevalence of illegal scooters in The Bronx, Notik said, “The whole scooter situation is troubling, but the economy is so bad and the price of insurance is so high that I don’t see it being a thing.” He continued in part, “It’s like poor people don’t have a choice but to survive how they can. To get an apartment in New York City, you’ve got to make over $100,000 a year. Everybody doesn’t make that so it’s either move out of the big city or get run over in the big city.”

 

Notik also said in relation to the latest crash that the victims on the scooter were not hit by the car, but lost control of the scooter. Asked if anyone from the nursing home across the street gave aid, he said, “Nah, I didn’t see anybody give aid. I didn’t see anyone. The first guy I saw was a guy with a black hat come out. He was bald. He was the first guy to come out of that building. He stood there and called the cops.”

 

Asked if he knew the victims, he said, “No, I’ve never seen them, but I heard they were from Burnside. Police later confirmed that the scooter driver is from West 172^nd Street in The Bronx.

 

We mentioned that the Honda Pilot had a paper plate. Notik said, “Yes. He probably just bought the Pilot. That’s something that the police have to investigate on their own to see if the paper plate is from the dealer or the streets, because that’s the only way they’re going to find out, but I know the scooter had no reason to be going a million miles per hour.”

 

Asked how fast the scooter was traveling, Notik said, “It looked fast. Like about 60 – 75. Another thing I can say is young people are young and we make mistakes, so it’s about the parent’s, Man. You have to stay on top of your kids so they don’t make those mistakes over and over.”

A memorial to Dafney was seen erected on May 30 at the crash site. An elderly man was seen placing a Christian medal at the site when two of Dafney’s schoolmates also arrived to place a candle with the others.

 

According to the NYPD, as of May 12, there were 16 traffic fatalities in The Bronx, compared to 15 as of the same date in 2023. Meanwhile, there was one in the 52^nd Precinct, compared to two as of the same date the previous year.

 

Norwood News spoke to the two and asked what their friend had been like. “She was a very sweet girl, and she was a close friend to me and what happened is really sad, so I wanted to show her love and kind of be here, even though she’s not here anymore,” one of the two said. She continued, “I didn’t believe it when it first happened. People were sending it to me asking me if this was true and I was like… I didn’t even know until I saw it on the news and then I texted her, and she didn’t text me back so that’s when I knew she was really gone.”

 

Asked if the victim hung out on the block, her friend replied, “Yeah.” Asked if she knew who the scooter driver was, the same girl said, “That was her friend. They said that they were driving on the scooter and going very fast, so they’re trying to say it’s their fault, so they might charge him.”

 

On the day of the crash, Norwood News witnessed the Honda Pilot driver being given a field sobriety test after the incident. However, according to the police preliminary incident report, the Honda driver was not charged, though the investigation is ongoing. “I kind of feel like that’s a little unfair because I just don’t think it was right,” Dafney’s friend said, seemingly unsure of where the fault lay. “I think the whole situation is sad.”

 

In reference to the fatal Eric Duprey scooter incident, Dafney’s other friend said, “That’s crazy. That’s why I stay out of The Bronx. I live in Manhattan.” The two friends confirmed that Dafney had been enrolled at Arts & Technology High School located on the grounds of the Martin Luther King High School at 122 Amsterdam Avenue and West 66th Street near the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

One of the friends added, “She didn’t really go to school.” The other friend said, “She never really came to school but when she did come to school, we had fun.” Asked what they were going to miss about Dafney, one of them said, “I’m going to miss her presence,” while her other friend said, “I’ll miss her energy; I loved the spirit in her voice and just seeing her.”

 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are strictly confidential.

 

Funeral details for Dafney are attached.