A pedestrian and a bicyclist were fatally injured in separate hit-and-run collisions in New York City over the last week, according to news reports. Espina Bundley, 69, of Queens, was killed on the Upper East Side early morning on March 25. According to a Fox5 news report, she was crossing Second Avenue in the north crosswalk at East 57th Street when she was hit by a southbound SUV.
Both Drivers Face Criminal Charges
Officials said Bundley was transported to a nearby hospital after the pedestrian accident and was pronounced dead. Police said the driver of the SUV fled the scene, but officers later arrested Bryan Alexis Guashpa Rumipamba, a 43-year-old Queens man and charged him with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
The other tragic crash, a bicycle accident, occurred in Queens the morning of March 24, according to the New York Daily News. Nassau County police said Tony Thomas was riding a bike at Beech Street and Scott Drive in Atlantic Beach when he was struck by a woman driving an SUV. Officials said the driver left the scene and was last seen on Beech Street. Thomas died at the scene. Nassau County and Long Beach police tracked down the vehicle and arrested 67-year-old Erin Henry. The Long Beach resident was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. We offer our deepest condolences to the family members of both victims.
What Are Your Rights in a Hit-and-Run Crash?
New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 600 states that it is illegal to leave the scene of a fatal or injury collision. When a motorist strikes a pedestrian, bicyclist or another vehicle, he or she is required to stop immediately, contact emergency personnel to get help for the injured victims and exchange information with the other parties involved.
In a hit-and-run collision, the driver and vehicle owner are both responsible parties even if the owner was not driving when the accident occurred. If the driver was on the job and/or operating a company vehicle at the time, his or her employer can also be held liable.
Such drivers can be held financially responsible whether or not they are arrested and/or charged. If a hit-and-run driver has injured you, please remember that you can seek compensation through the uninsured motorist clause of your auto insurance policy (even though the driver has not been identified) or through a quasi-state agency if there is no motor vehicle in the victim’s household. You should consult a personal injury lawyer immediately to protect your rights.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a bicycle accident or pedestrian accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. It is in the best interest of injured victims and their families in such cases to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer before contacting the people responsible for the injuries, and definitely before contacting or communicating with any insurance company, or their lawyers, investigators, or adjusters.
Pedestrian accident victims and their families should remember that they can seek compensation for injuries or losses in collisions even if the victim was not walking in a marked crosswalk and even if the driver involved in collision was not charged. Our law firm recovered the full one-million-dollar insurance policy for a girl who was not in the crosswalk when a motor vehicle hit her.
For over 54 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and $2,000,000 in a hit-and-run accident, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. We also recovered $1,500,000 for a lady who was hurt by a bus, although there was only a 1 million dollar insurance policy and we got $500,000 above that insurance policy.
We also obtained $295,000 out of a $300,000 insurance policy in compensation for the victim of a bicycle dooring accident (where a car door opens into the path of a bicyclist). One of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases. Also, we got a $1,400,000 verdict in a motorcycle accident.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning, paraplegia cases and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Sources: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/man-arrested-upper-east-side-hit-and-run
https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/03/26/queens-cyclist-killed-long-island-hit-run-driver-arrested/