Manslaughter Chargers For BK Driver In 2022 Crown Heights Hit And Run

BROOKLYN, NY - The 36-year-old Brooklyn architect who suffered extreme brain damage as a result of being hit in a wrong-way hit and run crash in August 2022 has died, authorities said.

Clossie Spencer, 31, of Crown Heights, was initially charged on Feb. 1, 2023, with assault, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident after he drove in reverse down Pacific Street near the Kingsboro Houses in the Brooklyn neighborhood, police said. His charges were upgraded to manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and related charges after Liebenberg succumbed to her injuries on Dec. 28, 2023.

According to surveillance footage, Spencer exited his car for a moment after the hit to observed the seriously injured architect before fleeing the scene, the Daily News reported at the time.

After immediate treatment in Brooklyn, Liebenberg's family discovered she had suffered massive brain trauma and had lost the ability to speak, walk by herself and had lost nearly all capacity for short-term memory, the outlet reported. At one point, her family even had to fight insurance companies who were looking to end her coverage.

"They don't think it's medically necessary, that’s their excuse," sister Creecy Richardson-Creef told the Daily News.