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DA Drops Charges Against Man Who Turned Himself In For Fatal Hit And Run Of DJ
By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Dec 24, 2016
Modified Dec 24, 2016
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By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Dec 24, 2016
Modified Dec 24, 2016
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The Brooklyn District Attorney has dropped charges against a man who turned himself in for the hit-and-run death of a well-known Spanish radio DJ, citing a lack of evidence.
Jean Paul Guerrero, known as DJ Jinx Paul on Spanish-language Mega 97.9, was fatally struck by a driver at the intersection of Jamaica and Sheffield Avenues around 4 a.m. on Monday. Police responding to a call regarding the accident found 39-year-old Guerrero unconscious and unresponsive with severe trauma to his body. He was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital.
Police were initially looking for a woman, possibly driving a Nissan Maxima with "severe front-end damage," ABC7 reported shortly after the incident.
According to ABC7, detectives tracked the owner of the car down through a body shop that his car was taken to after the crash. The man who took the car to the shop allegedly told employees he didn't want the car parked outside—the shop worker replaced the windshield but called police after seeing a news report about Guerrero's death.
Kevin Ozoria, 27, turned himself in to the 75th Precinct on Friday and was initially charged with leaving the scene of a accident resulting in death and tampering with physical evidence. A law enforcement source told Gothamist that the District Attorney declined to prosecute Ozoria due to insufficient evidence. Sources from the DA's office told ABC7 that a witness reported a woman, not a man, getting out of the driver's side after the crash—Ozoria's aunt Glady Ordonez told the Daily News her nephew only turned himself in to protect his girlfriend, who was driving the car at the time of the fatal crash.
"The girl was driving. It was the mother of his child," Ordonez told the News. Guerrero was the father of a 6-year-old boy.
Guerrero's parents reportedly flew in from Ecuador and were interviewed on their late son's radio station, where they thanked New Yorkers for their support before speaking directly to the person responsible for his death.
"You can understand as a mother, you can understand my pain," his mother, Gloria Guerrero, said.
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