Hit-and-run moped driver who killed ‘Gone Girl’ actress Lisa Banes pleads guilty to manslaughter
The moped driver who slammed into “Gone Girl” actress Lisa Banes and left her to die on Manhattan street pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges on Wednesday.
Brian Boyd struck Banes with his unregistered electric moped at W. 64th St. and Amsterdam Ave. on June 4, 2021. He took off and was arrested a month later.
Banes, 65, died 10 days later at Mount Sinai-Morningside Hospital.
Boyd, who was driving without a license, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident in State Supreme Court in Manhattan Wednesday.
The 27-year-old was driving recklessly when he killed Banes and his decision to flee was an attempt to skirt accountability, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
“Lisa Banes will be remembered for her contributions to the rich fabric of New York City through her roles on screen and on Broadway,” Bragg said.
Banes lived in Los Angeles and was in town to perform in a two-woman show at the Manhattan Theater Club called “The Niceties.”
In addition to her myriad of television and Broadway credits, Banes played Tom Cruise’s romantic interest in 1988′s “Cocktail” and the role of the mother of a missing woman in 2014′s “Gone Girl.”
Banes was on her way to meet her wife Kathryn Kranhold and friends for dinner three blocks from where Boyd hit her.
Kranhold thanked the lead prosecutor on the case Erin LaFarge. But she told the Daily News Wednesday that the sentence the courts promised Boyd was not fair.
“I have been at every court hearing for the last year,” Kranhold said. “While no sentence would ever be enough for Boyd, the judge’s agreed upon sentence of 1-3 years is painfully pathetic, and far from justice.”
Boyd’s defense lawyer could not be reached for comment.
