The motorist who killed a beloved Queens great-grandfather after blowing a red light and crashing into a 71-year-old victim’s car more than nine months ago has been arrested on manslaughter charges, police said Thursday.
Mario Hill, 31, was hit with criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving charges for the Dec. 18 crash at the corner of Guy R. Brewer Blvd. and South Conduit Ave. in Springfield Gardens.
Victim Fitz Herbert Slowe was on a dinner break from his job as a caregiver for the disabled at around 8:15 p.m. when Hill’s Dodge Ram blew through a red light on Guy R. Brewer Blvd. and slammed into Slowe’s Chevrolet Impala, which had the right of way.
The two drivers were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where Slowe died. Hill was listed in stable condition.
“It was break time. He had wanted something to eat and told a co-worker, ‘I’m going out to get something’,” Slowe’s brother Richard Slowe, 58, told the Daily News after his sibling’s death. “Two of them asked him also to purchase something for them to eat.”
Cops quickly learned that Hill was driving on a suspended license when he crashed into Slowe, officials said. In addition to the manslaughter and reckless driving charges, Hill was also indicted on aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
After a grand jury indicted Hill earlier this month, cops secured an arrest warrant and took the Queens resident into custody Wednesday. He was released without bail following a brief arraignment in Queens Supreme Criminal Court.
Hill, who lives in South Jamaica, will be answering the charges in court in the coming weeks. A call to Hill’s attorney for comment was not immediately returned.
Slowe immigrated to Brooklyn from Guyana in his late 1950s, following his parents, who celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary a few weeks before he died, according to family.
In December, Richard Slowe said he had sympathy for Hill, chalking up the crash that took his brother’s life to a terrible tragedy.
“I have sympathy also with that driver,” he said at the time. “This is an accident, this is not a willful act.
“I totally forgive that person,” he added. “I will say to him, if he ever has the opportunity again to drive to be more careful and just remember other people use the road also.”
