Driver Indicted Weeks After Fatal New Year's Crash In Harlem: DA

HARLEM, NY — An alleged drunk driver accused of running down a homeless man in Harlem on New Year's Eve faced a grand jury indictment three weeks after the deadly collision, pleading not guilty to all charges, a spokesperson for the Manhattan DA's office said.

Farkell Hopkins, 23, is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, tampering with evidence, and driving while intoxicated, according to a grand jury indictment. The charges are connected to a fatal collision on East 125th Street near Madison Avenue on New Year's Eve that killed a man in his 40s who has still not been identified, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said in court Tuesday that empty and partially-drunk liquor bottles were found in Hopkins' vehicle — a work truck — and that the man attempted to ditch bottles near the scene of the collision.

A spokesperson for the DA's office explains that prosecutors deferred Hopkins' arraignment for three weeks in order to follow new discovery rules that went into effect with other criminal justice reforms passed last year.

"Under the new mandates, prosecutors must obtain and provide charged persons with a variety of materials within 15 days of arraignment," DA spokesman Danny Frost said in a statement. "Accordingly, in a number of cases, prosecutors will defer charges until they are confident that discovery obligations can be fulfilled within fifteen days of arraignment on those charges."

Hopkins is out on supervised release following his arraignment, a DA spokesperson said.