Brooklyn bar owner indicted for fatal 2019 hit and run crash; victim’s family describes excruciating wait for justice
A Brooklyn bar owner faces manslaughter charges for a drunk-driving, hit-and-run crash — after a lengthy investigation found the victim’s DNA on the windshield of the driver’s damaged SUV.
Ramsaran Mahabeersingh, 57, was indicted Wednesday, more than two years after he mowed down 47-year-old Anthony Gonzalez, a Staten Island father of three and maintenance worker, prosecutors said.
For the victim’s family, Mahabeersingh’s arrest was a long time coming, and they gathered in court Wednesday to see him in handcuffs.
“The whole family thought that this was a lost case, that it wasn’t going anywhere. Deep down we felt like they were protecting someone or something but I guess that wasn’t the case,” nephew Elvys Gonzalez said. “We thought it wasn’t gonna happen anymore, that was it. But they said the courts were really backed up because of COVID.”
A detective initially told the family the case would be presented to a grand jury in March, but investigators were still working to make sure the case against the pub owner was air-tight, the 33-year-old nephew said.
“When you know they know who did it, they know who was driving, they took the car from the person’s lot… and two years later they still don’t have the guy? You think nothing’s going to happen with it,” he said, adding that his family has been frustrated by the slow pace of the court system.
“I still can’t believe this is how it works — having all the evidence in hand and you still have to wait so long to arrest the guy.”
Witnesses said Mahabeersingh was drunk when he left the Cross Bay Sports Bar, an Ozone Park watering hole he owns, in the wee hours of Sept. 22, 2019, according to prosecutors.
He got into his Nissan Murano and headed home but just before 3:15 a.m. plowed into Gonzalez, who was crossing North Conduit Blvd. near Crescent St. in East New York. Mahabeersingh drove away, leaving Gonzalez to die, prosecutors said.
He then struck another vehicle, and a part of his SUV fell off, they said.
Video surveillance recorded Mahabeersingh getting into his SUV and going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone as he approached the scene of the crash, prosecutors said.
Two days after the deadly crash, Mahabeersingh was spotted throwing car paint and boxes of car parts into the trash; detectives found a mechanic who replaced his SUV’s windshield in his driveway, prosecutors said.
That windshield had damage consistent with striking someone, and detectives found traces of Gonzalez’s DNA on it, prosecutors said.
“An extensive and lengthy investigation into this tragic crash revealed the extent of this defendant’s illegal actions,” Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez had two sons and a daughter in their late teens and early 20s, and a granddaughter on the way when he died.
“His daughter was pregnant at the time he died. That was his first grandchild and he never got to meet her,” Elvys Gonzalez said.
The victim was on his way home from his job at a downtown Manhattan hotel, and he only happened to be on that road by chance, his nephew said. Typically, his nephew said, Gonzalez would park his car in Queens and take the A train to and from Manhattan.
“But that day, the A train wasn’t working,” Elvys Gonzalez said. “And he had to take the J train, and he walked from Crescent. That’s when he crossed Conduit and got struck.”
Mahabeersingh was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday on an 18-count indictment, for charges including manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
He was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond.
With Noah Goldberg
