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Bronx Hit-And-Run Driver Had Suspended License


By

Ben Muessig

Published Nov 29, 2009

Modified Nov 29, 2009


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By

Ben Muessig

Published Nov 29, 2009

Modified Nov 29, 2009


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The driver suspected in a fatal Bronx hit-and-run on Friday has a suspended license and a lengthy automotive rap sheet. Sheldon Reid, 28, is accused of mowing down 40-year-old Sonya Powell at around 8:30 pm as she walked home from Christmas shopping in Wakefield with her fiancé.

Police arrested Reid — whose license was suspended on Monday for defaulting on a summons payment, in March for the same reason, in September 2008 for failing to a pay a ticket for going 80 mph in a 50-mph zone, and in February 2007 for an accident involving injuries and property damage — and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident with a fatality and aggravated unlicensed operation, according to the Post. Reid, who has also served two years behind bars for shooting a man in the chest, is being held on $20,000 cash or bond.

Powell, a Jamaican immigrant who worked as a nurse's aid in a Riverdale, was crossing Baychester Avenue less than a block from her home when she was struck by a gray 2007 Infiniti. "I saw the car coming and yelled, 'Sonya, stop!'" her fiancé, David Sheppard, 45, told the Daily News. "I guess she got spooked by the lights and tried to run across." A witness described the hit-and-run to the Post: "Her boyfriend pulled her to the sidewalk and was screaming for someone to help him. I called police myself. She was lying on the floor, bleeding from her head," said 18-year-old Dane Cook. "The driver stopped all the way down the block and put the car in reverse and then got out with his friend and said, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!'" The suspect then drove off.

Tagged

baychester avenue

hit and run

inifiniti

sheldon reid

sonya powell

wakefield


Ben Muessig

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