Intoxicated Off-Duty Policeman in SUV Runs Over Four Pedestrians, Killing One
NYPD officer Nicholas Batka was suspended from the force Saturday after striking four pedestrians with his SUV and killing one while off-duty. The others remain in critical condition.Â
"Batka was arrested on charges including manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated," CBS News reported. The former officer, who had worked a year and a half in the New York Police Department Transit Bureau Manhattan task force, remains in custody.Â
Witnesses were shocked when they saw the SUV spin out of control on the busy strip of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Â
"So I saw this guy pass by me in a really bad speed, zigzagging and soon as he turned he jumped on the sidewalk," Uber driver Shakeel Shabbi told CBS New York. "I'm a strong man but I was shaking like a leaf. That's the worst thing I've ever seen... Never want to see that again in my life."Â
"Another witness told 1010 WINS that it was the most horrific thing she'd ever seen with bloody bodies on the ground and one victim who 'looked like a chainsaw had been taken to his knee,'" CBS New York reported.
Batka apparantly tried to flee the scene, according to a third witness, Kelly Convery. "Everyone saw him do it," she said.
