A pedestrian walking near the Bruckner Boulevard service road was killed by a drunk driver early Saturday morning. According to police, John Pluchino, 58, was struck while walking in the middle of the on-ramp for the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway on Saturday, February 4 around 4 a.m. by a car driven by Carlos Soriano-Ynfante. The impact caused Soriano-Ynfante’s 2011 Infiniti G37 to jump the curb, fall down an embankment and land against a tree. Pluchino sustained massive chest injuries and died on the side of the road. Police are unsure why Pluchino was walking in the middle of the ramp.
According to a neighbor, Pluchino lived on Ellison Avenue since the 1960s and walked to wherever he needed to go. Soriano-Ynfante was unharmed in the crash, but was arrested for manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving. Traffic on the ramp was halted for several hours as the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad investigated the scene.
