FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to up to 12 Years in Prison for Fatal Crash
Defendant was Fleeing Police When He Ran Red Light at 75 Miles Per Hour;
Victim Was Ejected from Vehicle, Struck by Defendant and Later Died
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Cypress Hills man has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for causing a fatal collision that killed a 29-year-old woman in Bushwick. Police had attempted to stop the defendant for speeding, but instead of stopping he ran a red light and struck another vehicle, killing a passenger.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “By speeding, fleeing police, and running a red light, this defendant turned his car into a deadly weapon. His reckless choices stole a young woman’s future and caused immeasurable grief to her loved ones. Today’s sentence sends a clear message that this kind of lawlessness will not be tolerated in Brooklyn.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Juan Lopez, 33, of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, first-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting where serious physical injury or death results on August 20, 2025. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Eugene Guarino to an indeterminate term of four to 12 years in prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on May 26, 2024, at approximately 5:28 a.m., officers from the NYPD’s 83rd Precinct activated lights and sirens and attempted to stop the defendant, who was driving a black 2018 Mercedes Benz at a high rate of speed on Gates Avenue in Bushwick. The defendant failed to pull over, accelerated through a steady red light at the intersection of Gates Avenue and Central Avenue, and collided with a 2005 Honda Pilot that was traveling through the intersection with a green light. A review of the vehicle’s black box determined the defendant was traveling at approximately 75 miles per hour five seconds before the crash.
The impact caused the victim, Micah Elizabeth Dukes, 29, who was a passenger in the Honda, to be ejected from the vehicle. She suffered severe head and facial injuries as well as a punctured lung and was transported to Elmhurst Hospital. She was transferred to NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, where she died due to her injuries on June 8, 2024.
Following the crash, the defendant fled the scene on foot and was apprehended by responding officers. Officers observed signs of intoxication, and the defendant later admitted to consuming alcohol before getting behind the wheel.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Velez, Deputy Chief the District Attorney’s Street Safety Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Nocella, Chief of the Street Safety Bureau, assisted in the case.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Christopher Brogna and Assistant District Attorney Brendan Fitzpatrick, of the District Attorney’s Grey Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, Bureau Chief.
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