{"id":102647,"date":"2026-01-16T21:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102647\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:19:11","slug":"heartbroken-families-describe-pain-at-sentencing-of-july-4-drunk-driver-who-killed-four-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102647\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartbroken families describe pain at sentencing of July 4 drunk driver who killed four in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

An addiction counselor who got drunk on the Fourth of July<\/a> two years ago and plowed into a family park party in Manhattan, killing four, was given 24 years in prison Friday \u2014 and heard the heartbroken stories of his victims, including of a boy who cries out \u201cI want Mommy\u201d each night for his lost mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can I express how it feels to hold him close at bedtime and hear him whisper in the silence, \u2018I want Mommy\u2019?\u201d Lilian Ruiz, the mother of victim Emily Ruiz, said in court about her 7-year-old grandson Kal-El in the aftermath of the July 4, 2024, nightmare.<\/p>\n

Daniel Hyden was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

Ruiz was one of four killed when Daniel Hyden, a 44-year-old self-described substance counselor who boasted about his sobriety, drunkenly got behind the wheel of his Ford F-150 and plowed through a fence and into a party at a Lower East Side park.<\/p>\n

The drunken crash claimed the lives of Lucile Pinkney, 59, her son Herman Pinkney, 38, Ana Morel, 43, and the 30-year-old Ruiz \u2014 who died five days after the wreck. Seven victims suffered other injuries, including four who had been seriously hurt making it difficulty to walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mourn never hearing her call me Mom again, but mostly I mourn for my daughter and my grandson and all they have been denied,\u201d Lilian Ruiz added, before Hyden was handed his lengthy term by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge April Newbauer. He had been convicted on all counts related to the deaths <\/a>at trial in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou very likely knew that you could kill them and didn\u2019t care,\u201d the judge seethed to Hyden before issuing his sentence.<\/p>\n

Eight victims read at the sentencing \u2014 including Starkema Lewis, a relative of the Pinkneys, who was left wondering why Hyden, who penned an autobiography called \u201cThe Sober Addict,\u201d guzzled booze before killing the relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniel Hyden: a substance abuse counselor\u2026,\u201d Lewis said in their victim impact statement. \u201cSomeone who built a career telling others not to make the same choices he made that night.<\/p>\n

Emily Ruiz, 31, with her son, Kai-El, 7. Ruiz\u2019s family said her son stills asks for his deceased mother. Courtesy of Liliana Ruiz<\/p>\n

The scene of the fatal Manhattan Fourth of July crash in 2024. William Farrington<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew what could happen. He knew the devastation caused by drunk driving, and yet despite multiple prior DUI incidents, he still chose to get behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family of fatal victim Morel, a disabled woman who apparently dreamed about the wreck<\/a>, slammed the loss of their loved one \u2014 who they said was supposed to be in Connecticut celebrating the holiday with family before changing her plans at the last minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t see Fourth of July as a celebration,\u201d Zolia Hernandez and Evelyn Morel wrote in a letter. \u201cThis day will forever haunt us. I wish I can have the power to bring my sister back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victim Ana Morel was supposed to be celebrating the holiday in Connecticut before changing her plans at the last minute, her family said.<\/p>\n

Hyden allegedly had a blood-alcohol content of up to .17<\/a> \u2014 more than twice the legal limit, prosecutors have said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have said Hyden had been kicked off a party boat in Lower Manhattan for being too drunk before he decided to get in his truck.<\/p>\n

He then\u00a0plowed into the crowd<\/a>\u00a0at Corlears Hook\u00a0Park going 52 mph, killing the four people and injuring another seven in the horror, authorities have said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Hyden had been barred from a party boat before the crash for being too drunk. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

A victim\u2019s family member reads a victim impact statement at Daniel Hyden\u2019s sentencing. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos scolded Hyden for his \u201creckless and destructive\u201d decision to get behind the wheel while drunk \u2014 considering Hyden had previously been busted for boozed-up driving.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always going to be drunk. It was always going to be 2,000 pounds of twisted steel burying human flesh and bone,\u201d Bogdanos said.<\/p>\n

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An emotionless Hyden apologized to the victims of his carnage while also pondering the 2021 death of his own sister, who died at the hands of a drunk driver in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

He said he was supposed to deliver his own statement at his sister\u2019s killer\u2019s sentencing \u2014 until he found himself behind bars at Rikers for the same crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of human being would put other human beings through the same thing he went through?\u201d said Hyden, who claimed he relapsed after his sister\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Hyden was found guilty of four counts of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and seven counts of assault at the non-jury trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An addiction counselor who got drunk on the Fourth of July two years ago and plowed into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,8077,8078,4327,57,9,24,63,3209,4721,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-102647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-drunk-driving","12":"tag-independence-day","13":"tag-manhattan-supreme-court","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sentencing","19":"tag-trials","20":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}