Police in Queens are still looking for the hit-and-run driver who fatally struck a pedestrian near JFK Airport last week.
According to law enforcement sources, officers from the 116th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a crash near 155th Street and South Conduit Avenue in Springfield Gardens at around 2:27 a.m. on Aug. 13.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police learned that an unidentified suspect in a vehicle believed to be a white SUV was traveling eastbound on South Conduit Avenue when it struck the victim, a 52-year-old man, who was attempting to cross the street.
Police sources said the operator and the vehicle did not stop and sped away from the scene after the incident.
EMS responded and rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police are withholding the victim’s name until the family is located and notified.
No arrests have been made so far, but the NYPD’s Highway Patrol Collision Investigation Squad’s investigation remains ongoing.
South Conduit Avenue is a traffic-heavy corridor. In 2023, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) redesigned North and South Conduit Avenues at 79th Street — about four miles west of the crash site — to add new traffic signals, crosswalks, and a new sidewalk across the Conduit median.
In May, the DOT launched a study of Conduit Avenue, known as “The Conduit,” a three-mile artery that stretches through Brooklyn and Queens, to establish what infrastructure improvements are needed to improve safety in the area.
Meanwhile, citywide motor-vehicle traffic fatalities are down just over 38% year to date compared to the same period in 2024, according to the latest NYPD statistics.
