Katz declines to prosecute driver who fatally hit Astoria delivery worker
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Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has concluded an investigation and declined to bring charges against the driver who fatally ran over delivery driver Xing Long Lin in April in Astoria. Photo via Zohran Mamdani/GoFundMe
By Jacob Kaye
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has declined to prosecute the driver who fatally ran over a delivery worker in Astoria in April, according to a report posted to the DA’s website this week.
According to the DA’s office, the six month investigation into the death of 37-year-old Xing Long Lin did not turn up sufficient evidence “to demonstrate any criminal intent or behavior leading up to the tragic death.”
Lin, a 37-year-old Chinese immigrant from Elmhurst, was working a shift for Watawa Sushi while driving his electric scooter down 35th Street near Ditmars Boulevard on Thursday, April 29, when a 60-year-old woman ran him over, also crashing into a nearby outdoor dining structure, injuring a diner.
Lin, who was riding in the bike lane, later died of his injuries.
The DA’s office said that their investigation, which was conducted in collaboration with the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad, showed that the driver was struck from behind by another car, sending her straight ahead at a high speed.
The 60-year-old driver lost control of the car and then hit two other cars, drove through an intersection and continued at a high speed until she hit both Lin and the dining structure, according to the DA.
The driver remained at the scene, where NYPD officers said she showed “no signs of being impaired by alcohol or drugs and that she had a valid driver’s license, free of any suspensions or other blemishes.”
Several eyewitnesses of the crash told multiple news outlets that the driver had sped around a double parked car before hitting Lin, a chain of events the DA’s investigation disputes.
Katz’s investigation said that the car may have malfunctioned during the incident, according to the memo.
“Notwithstanding the driver’s complete cooperation with the investigation, the sudden acceleration of the vehicle and subsequent loss of control cannot be adequately explained and may have been due to a mechanical defect, as had been reported by other drivers with that make and model vehicle or it may have been attributed to driver error,” the DA’s statement on the investigation reads.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office said that Katz has been hard on traffic violence and has “prosecuted nearly 1,300 cases of vehicular crimes since DA Katz took office in January 2020, including charges of vehicular manslaughter, homicide and DUI.”
“The DA has been steadfast in her commitment to making Queens streets safer and holding accountable those who abuse the rules of the road,” the spokesperson added. “Each set of facts and circumstances is examined individually, and this office found no credible evidence to demonstrate any criminal intent or behavior leading up to the tragic, accidental death of Xing Long Lin.”
Lin’s death sparked outrage throughout the borough, as community members called on the NYPD and prosecutors to bring justice for those like Lin, who was both an immigrant and low wage worker.
“We just want to make sure that this man's life has been accounted for and that we have done everything possible to make sure that justice is there,” Kate Peterson, a local community member, told the Eagle in April.
“It concerns me to think about the fact that we may have a double standard in seeking justice,” Peterson added. “I want to make sure that we’re fighting for this man – who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and lost his life in such a devastating way – just as much as we would for any other person, whether they're known in our community or not.”
