Long Island man charged for killing teen on Roosevelt Ave

The corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Benham Street where Edwin Cruz Gomez allegedly drove his car into a family, killing a 16-year-old girl over the weekend. Photo via Google Maps

By Jacob Kaye

A Long Island man was arraigned on murder charges in Queens this week after he allegedly purposefully drove his car into a family on Roosevelt Avenue, killing a teen after she and her mother rejected the man’s demands for sex.

Edwin Cruz Gomez, a 38-year-old from Uniondale, faces up to 25 years to life in prison after driving his SUV into 16-year-old Jhoanny Gomez-Alvarez, killing her and injuring her mother and stepfather after an early morning altercation on Saturday, prosecutors said.

The Queens district attorney’s office, which charged Cruz Gomez with murder, attempted murder, assault, vehicular manslaughter and other crimes, said the Long Island man was drunk and had a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit when he hopped into his 6,000-pound vehicle, aimed it at the family and hit the gas.

The incident began around 4 a.m. on Sept. 13 outside of Prima Donna Restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue between Elmhurst Avenue and Benham Street.

Prosecutors said Cruz Gomez was standing outside of the restaurant with a group of men when they spotted Gomez-Alvarez, her mother, her stepfather and her boyfriend.

Cruz Gomez allegedly walked up to the group and began to harass the two women in the group, offering them both money to perform sexual acts.

The teenager’s stepfather then began yelling at Cruz Gomez before the two of them got into a physical fight, according to the charges. People nearby quickly broke up the fight but the argument was not finished.

The 16-year-old and her family began to walk away from the restaurant to the opposite side of Roosevelt Avenue after the argument, while Cruz Gomez went to his car, which was double parked on the street.

That’s when prosecutors say he made a right turn onto Benham Street, where Gomez-Alvarez and her family were standing, and drove onto the sidewalk.

Cruz Gomez hit Gomez-Alvarez, her mother and step father with the car. The crash allegedly left the teenager pinned between the car and a street pole.

The Long Island man then put his car in reverse and drove backward in the wrong direction down the one-way street before hitting an unoccupied van.

That’s when Cruz Gomez ditched his car and ran away from the scene on foot, according to the charges.

With a blood alcohol content around 0.137 percent, the defendant walked up to a pair of uniformed NYPD officers a few blocks away and told them that he was assaulted.

He then allegedly led the cops back to the collision location.

Cruz Gomez was arrested later that day.

Gomez-Alvarez’s mother was taken to a nearby hospital with a leg injury. The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene.

“After the child’s stepfather and boyfriend confronted Edwin Cruz Gomez and then crossed to the other side of the street, the intoxicated defendant drove his SUV onto the sidewalk and took aim at the group of four,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “The defendant pinned the teen against a pole with his vehicle and injured her mother and stepfather as he barreled his 3-ton vehicle into them.”

“This defendant is now charged with murder and related crimes and we will seek justice for Alvarez and her family,” she added.

In all, Cruz Gomez was charged with murder in the second degree, three counts of attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Lana Schlesinger ordered him to return to court on Sept. 19.

The teens killing rocked an area that has drawn citywide attention for what some city officials say are dangerous conditions.

Roosevelt Avenue, a bustling commercial block that runs beneath the above-ground 7 train, has been seen as a hub for prostitution, violent crime and illegal vending by Mayor Eric Adams and his administration, which last year launched a police operation focused on cleaning up the area.

While some police officials have touted the operation’s success, others have criticized its effects.

Former interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon said in a recent lawsuit filed against the city in which he claims the mayor ran the NYPD “as a racketeering enterprise” that Operation Restore Roosevelt was flawed from the start.

“The operation failed to produce lasting results, although Adams showed impressive questionable statistical accomplishments,” Donlon said in his July lawsuit. “As predicted by critics and reported in the media, upon the conclusion of the ORR, the same criminal activity, including open prostitution and illegal markets, promptly returned to Roosevelt Avenue, demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the collective defendant’s chosen strategy.”