{"id":274109,"date":"2026-06-22T16:47:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274109\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T16:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:47:48","slug":"hit-run-driver-arrested-months-after-killing-brooklyn-church-drummer-nypd-tracks-suv-to-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274109\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit-run driver arrested months after killing Brooklyn church drummer, NYPD tracks SUV to Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Brooklyn hit-and-run driver cops say fatally struck a church choir drummer who was the father of a young boy in February<\/a> has been arrested \u2014 after police tracked the suspect\u2019s damaged luxury SUV to a repair shop in Illinois, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

Gregory Ventura, 35, surrendered to police Monday morning to face charges in the death of Joshua Germain, 31. The victim\u2019s family says Germain was struck crossing the street to a party at an East Williamsburg club after getting out of an Uber.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelief can never come now because relief cannot bring him back,\u201d the victim\u2019s mother, Kertilde Germain, 58, said of the arrest. \u201cThe damage was so bad, the back of the skull dislocated from the spine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim leaves a 4-year-old son behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s aware that his father\u2019s not coming back,\u201d Kertilde said of her grandson. \u201cWe have to deal with him psychologically. He cries every day. He needs his dad and he knows his dad is in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshua\u2019s father, who asked to be identified only as Mr. Germain, took his grandson to Joshua\u2019s grave in Cypress Hills Cemetery on Father\u2019s Day Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to visit my son in the cemetery for Father\u2019s Day,\u201d he said, breaking down in tears. \u201cThat is hurting me a lot, It\u2019s hurting me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ventura is charged with criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.<\/p>\n

The victim won an award at McDonald\u2019s Gospelfest<\/a> for his drumming, his mother said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a devoted church member,\u201d she said. \u201cHe won best drummer in band. He won a trophy as the best drummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family had to make the heart-wrenching decision to take him off life support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the hospital from the day he went to the hospital to the day he went to the morgue,\u201d the victim\u2019s father said.\u00a0\u201cHe was braindead. I realized that my son was dead already and I wasn\u2019t about to leave him (like that).\u201d<\/p>\n

Kertilde said she had surgery for congestive heart failure after her son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a mother, due to the situation, I had heart surgery because of shock,\u201d she said. \u201cI cried every single day knowing this thing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News; Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

Joshua Germain, inset, was fatally struck by a Nissan Murano driver early Feb. 15 on Vandervoort Ave. near Rewe St. in Brooklyn. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News; Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

Joshua was walking north in the southbound lane of Vandervoort Ave. near Rewe St. when the driver, heading north in a Nissan Murano, struck him as the victim tried to move around slow-moving cars in front of him, police said.<\/p>\n

Joshua hit his head on the pavement, suffering severe injuries. He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital<\/a> and died five days later.<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

Joshua Germain, 31, was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver in East Williamsburg on Feb. 15. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

The driver fled the scene to his home in Greenpoint, police say, but the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad<\/a> figured out his name. Then, in March, cops determined through license plate reader alerts that the car was now in Illinois.<\/p>\n

Determined NYPD cops eventually tracked the car to a repair shop in Mundelein, sources said.<\/p>\n

Ventura works as a vehicle transporter, police sources said.<\/a> He has done prior business in Illinois and took his damaged car to the shop there, the source said. He dropped it off so the body damage could be fixed, promising to return and pay the bill in cash, according to the sources.<\/p>\n

But the\u00a0NYPD beat him to it, contacting Mundelein police<\/a> and asking them to seize the vehicle as evidence. The NYPD then obtained a search warrant and towed the car back to New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy question is why? How do you sleep at night?\u201d the victim\u2019s mother said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t give life to no one. Why do you think it\u2019s OK for you to take somebody\u2019s life \u2014 and leave the entire family in turmoil, grief and sorrow and anxiety?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gregory<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Gregory Ventura, left, surrenders to police in Brooklyn on Monday morning. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

During his arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Criminal Court Monday, prosecutors did not seek bail because Ventura voluntarily surrendered and a judge granted him supervised released.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe the bastard just walked out,\u2019 the victim\u2019s sister said after attending the court proceeding.<\/p>\n

Ventura has a prior arrest for marijuana possession in 2016, plus four arrests, dating from that year back to 2009, that are sealed, sources said.<\/p>\n

More recently, he was a domestic assault victim in 2024, sources said.<\/p>\n

With John Annese<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Brooklyn hit-and-run driver cops say fatally struck a church choir drummer who was the father of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63,105488,105487],"class_list":["post-274109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sources-said","tag-the-suspect-is-a-vehicle-transpoorter-and-took-his-car-far-from-home-to-repair-his-damaged-suv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274109","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=274109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}