City Council OKs Bill That Would Fine Hit-And-Run Drivers Up To $10K

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The City Council passed a measure Tuesday that would impose stiff fines on drivers in the five boroughs who leave the scene of an accident.

Drivers who leave the scene of any type of accident could face up to $10,000 in civil penalties.

Queens City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said current law doesn't come down hard enough on hit-and-run drivers.

"We are establishing, for the first time, civil penalties that we hope will be a deterrent to those who would do something so inhumane and cruel as to leave a fellow New Yorker dying in the street," he said.

As WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported, the bill was passed nearly a year to the day when 19-year-old City College student Luis Bravo was hit and killed by a driver who left the scene in Woodside, Queens.

The driver was never found.

Listen to New Measure Imposes Fines For Hit-And-Run Drivers

Marta Puruncajas, Bravo's mother, spoke through a translator, saying she hopes the new measure will make people think twice before leaving the scene of an accident.

"She's just in a lot of pain, and she doesn't wish anything like that to happen to anybody else in this world," Puruncajas' translator said.

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