Seminary student struck and killed by hit-and-run driver on Manhattan’s East Side

EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN, NY – Police have arrested a driver accused of hitting and killing a pedestrian in New York City and then leaving the scene, the Daily News reports.

The victim was identified as Ngu Quoc Tran, a first-year theology student at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. Police said the accident occurred late Tuesday night as he was walking across the FDR Drive service road near East 26th Street in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan. Tran was hit at about 10:15 p.m. by a black 2007 Honda Accord that kept on going after the crash.

Tran was pronounced dead after being taken to Bellevue Hospital. Police later located the car involved after it broke down on the FDR Drive near East 53rd Street, and they arrested the driver, 23-year-old Jonathan Sutherland, who had sustained minor injuries.

Sutherland faces several criminal charges, including criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident, and refusing to take a breathalizer test.

Tran, known as Peter, was a native of Vietnam who was studying to be a priest.  Bishop James F. Checchio of the Diocese of Metuchen released a statement that read in part, “Peter was a prayerful and loving person who was always at the service of others. He was well-known in our parishes and was a welcoming face always talking with parishioners after Mass and building friendships with those serving in parish ministries. He will be incredibly missed in our diocese.”

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