Carnage

Sanitation Driver Who Killed Pedestrian is Back on Job Less Than Two Months After Crash

DSNY says the worker's suspension time "was up" and he had to return, albeit in a modified role.

By Gersh Kuntzman

10:16 AM EST on December 4, 2018

Sanitation Driver Who Killed Pedestrian is Back on Job Less Than Two Months After Crash

Credit: News12

The city Sanitation driver who killed a Crown Heights pedestrian by driving the wrong way down a one-way street — then tried to turn his massive vehicle around as part of a cover-up — is back on the job less than two months after the crime.

Aaron Gilchrist had been charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian, driving the wrong way on a one-way street and failing to exercise due care after running over Alberto Leal, 37, early on Oct. 11. Police say that Gilchrist, 33, turned right from Eastern Parkway onto Brooklyn Avenue — going the wrong direction on the southbound one-way. He struck Leal in the crosswalk. He then tried to cover up his crime by turning his truck around, a video shows.

At the time, a Sanitation spokesman said the 13-year department vet had been suspended pending an internal DSNY investigation of the crash.

Well…

That investigation is “ongoing,” said the spokesman, Vito Turso. He told Streetsblog that Gilchrist was allowed to return to work — albeit in a modified role that will keep him from getting behind the wheel of a garbage truck — because his “suspension time was up.”

The Daily News originally reported that Gilchrist has returned to work. Gilchrist earned $120,918 last year.

Gersh Kuntzman

Tabloid legend Gersh Kuntzman has been with New York newspapers since 1989, including stints at the New York Daily News, the Post, the Brooklyn Paper and even a cup of coffee with the Times. He's also the writer and producer of "Murder at the Food Coop," which was a hit at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2016, and “SUV: The Musical” in 2007. He also writes the Cycle of Rage column, which is archived here.

Carnage | Department of Sanitation

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