MIDWOOD – THE ALLEGED DRIVER of an ambulance that fatally struck a pedestrian in Midwood in April was arrested on Wednesday, police said.
Michael Gontar, 42, of Shore Parkway, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care in the deadly crash, which claimed the life of local resident Cherry Cayetano Sobel, 44, a nurse.
The collision took place at Ocean Avenue and Avenue O around 6:30 a.m. on April 2, when, a police investigation found, a Maimonides Medical Center ambulance turning left from Avenue O onto Ocean struck Cayetano Sobel while she was in the crosswalk. Sources told ABC News that police believed the driver did not realize Cayetano Sobel had been hit, and kept driving. A different ambulance then brought her to Maimonides, where she was pronounced deceased.
Maimonides in a statement at the time said that the ambulance staff involved had been suspended pending investigation.
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