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| Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinov |
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
– A minivan driver was caught on camera backing up into five pedestrians in Brooklyn and then speeding off, only to be nabbed a day later when a neighborhood watch group spotted his vehicle, cops said Monday.
Surveillance video shows the minivan, parked at Wythe and Rutledge Aves. in Williamsburg, backing up, even though there are no cars parked in front of it, and striking the victims, who topple like dominoes, about 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
The driver initially remained at the scene, with at least one witness motioning to him, but then drove off, police said.
On Sunday, members of Shomrim, a volunteer neighborhood patrol, saw the minivan parked on Franklin Ave. near Park Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Police were notified and Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinov, 26, was arrested a short time later.
Bakhritdinov was arraigned Monday on charges of misdemeanor assault and leaving the scene of an accident and released on his own recognizance.
Assistant District Attorney Wilfredo Cotto said seven people in total were injured by his car, though it’s not clear from the video how the other two people were hurt.
Judge Maria Aragona decided not to suspend Bakhritdinov’s driver’s license, after his lawyer, Jack Brewer, described his actions as a “mistake in driving.”
“There’s no reason besides this one incident to believe that he poses a risk the way he drives,” Brewer said. “The allegations are that he backed up at a stop light. The allegations aren’t that he was driving 100 mph, the allegations aren’t that he was going through a red light…. He also is not charged with reckless driving.”
Cotto countered that Bakhritdinov fled the scene.
“The fact as they’re laid out, has the defendant backing into a sidewalk and striking seven people, and he’s being charged with reckless assault,” he said. “And then the defendant speeds off. The defendant is arrested only after surveillance video is recovered.”
Source: nydailynews
