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Married Couple Killed By Hit-And-Run Driver In Far Rockaway On New Year's Day
By
Sophia Chang
Published Jan 1, 2021
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Jan 1, 2021
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A hit-and-run-driver killed a married couple who were heading to work at John F. Kennedy Airport early Friday, according to NYPD.
Around 5 a.m. Friday, Thelma Reid was driving a Nissan Rogue with her husband Donovan Gibbon northbound on Ocean Crest Boulevard when a man driving a gray 2011 Dodge Ram truck at a high rate of speed east on Rockaway Freeway slammed into their car, police said.
The truck driver left his vehicle and fled on foot, abandoning his two passengers, police said.
Reid, 60, and Gibbon, 57, were taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
One of the truck’s passengers, a 37-year-old man, suffered lacerations to the head and was taken to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition, police said. The other passenger, a 33-year-old man, allegedly interfered with the investigation at the scene and was taken into custody and charged with obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct, according to police.
The NYPD Highway Collision Squad was investigating and police are still seeking the driver.
Police said Reid and Gibbon were headed to work at Kennedy Airport, and ABC-7 reported the couple —who were married for eight years—worked at Sky Chef: “Reid was apparently was not supposed to work on New Year's Day, but got called in,” the station reported.
They were less than two blocks away from their home when they were killed.
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Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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