A Mercedes driver has been arrested for manslaughter for a 2021 hit-and-run crash on the West Side Highway that killed a 58-year-old man, police said Thursday.
Jay Taveras, 27, is accused of abandoning his 2021 Mercedes-Benz sedan on the highway near W. 59th St. and running away from the fatal crash about 4:20 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2021.
He was finally arrested Wednesday for manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
Victim Thomas Dunlea was driving downtown in a 2005 Hyundai Tucson when he started to turn left onto W. 59th St. and was struck by the northbound Mercedes driver, police said.
Dunlea was ejected from his car upon impact, police said.
Medics rushed Dunlea to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where he died three weeks later on Jan. 9, 2022. The Mercedes driver abandoned his vehicle and ran off.
Dunlea lived in Rye Brook in Westchester County, according to cops.
Taveras’ arraignment was pending in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday. He lives in Inwood in upper Manhattan, police say.