A taxi driver who witnessed a Bronx hit-and-run collision helped police catch the driver by following him for seven miles, which let NYPD officers set up a roadblock to apprehend him. The cab driver was nearby when a Kia Sorento struck a 21-year-old man who was trying to cross the street at the corner of East 181st Street and Southern Boulevard just before 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning.
The Kia driver, whom police identified as 40-year-old Mohamed Fofana, did not stop and fled the scene on Southern Boulevard. The cab driver began tailing Fofana past the Bronx Zoo and through the New York Botanical Garden, dialing 911 to report the injured pedestrian and telling police he was following the car.
According to a police spokesperson, the victim was critically injured and was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital. Police sources said the good Samaritan cab driver kept after Fofana until he reached Boston Road, where officers stopped him at the roadblock. Police said they found Fofana in a drunken state, with watery eyes and shaky balance, and that a breath test showed he was intoxicated above the legal limit.
Fofana was charged with two counts of vehicular assault, driving without a license, leaving the scene of an accident, and DWI.
What this Bronx DWI case shows
This is a textbook example of how quickly a New York impaired-driving case escalates beyond a simple DWI. Three separate aggravating facts, an injury, leaving the scene, and driving without a license, each add their own charge and their own exposure. A serious injury is what turns a DWI into felony-level vehicular assault, and leaving the scene of an injury accident is a separate crime on top of that.
None of that means a case cannot be defended. The lawfulness of the stop, the reliability of the breath testing, and exactly what the People can prove about who was driving and what happened all remain open questions. If you are facing charges like these, a Bronx DWI lawyer who has prosecuted these cases, and who defends drunk driving and DUI charges throughout the borough, can see where the proof is strong and where it is not.
This write-up is drawn from public news reports at the time and is preserved here for general information only. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt, and every person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case, and nothing here is legal advice.