Park Slope Man Charged With Killing Local Business Owner in Hit-and-Run Carjacking

Pictured: The victim, left, and his son. Photo via Anthony DelleGrazie/Instagram

By SIMONE WILSON and JOHN V. SANTORE

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — After just a day of sleuthing, NYPD detectives announced Monday evening that they'd caught the man who, earlier that morning, allegedly stole beloved Park Slope business owner Phil DelleGrazie's work truck from outside his metal shop; struck him with it, killing him; and fled the scene.

Joshua Colon, 24, who lives on 16th Street at 4th Avenue — at the intersection of the Park Slope, South Slope and Gowanus neighborhoods — was arrested Monday just before 11 p.m., police said.

Colon was charged with second-degree murder, robbery and grand larceny, according to the NYPD.

Police said the victim, 63-year-old DelleGrazie, had been standing next to his flatbed truck Monday morning outside his business, A & D Iron Works at 305 24th St., when Colon jumped into the vehicle and drove off.

DelleGrazie followed the suspect in a separate car, police said, then hopped out and approached his vehicle on foot near 709 4th Ave.

DelleGrazie tried to pull Colon out of the truck but was pushed to the ground, police said. Colon then allegedly struck DelleGrazie with the stolen vehicle, killing him.

At that point, Colon abandoned the flatbed and ran from the crime scene on foot, according to detectives.

Nearby bodega owner Salem Jwayyed told the New York Post that an ambulance was behind the truck when it hit DelleGrazie. An emergency responder jumped out of the ambulance, he said, and attempted to revive the victim for nearly 20 minutes.

The post also photographed DelleGrazie's son, Anthony, kneeling over his father's covered body.

Anthony's Instagram account includes several old photos and messages expressing his love for his dad.

"Real reason why I love working Saturdays, just to spend extra time with my father," he wrote under one picture.

"Doesn't even workout he's got a bigger tricep than me," he wrote under a second image of the two riding in a convertible. "Not bad for 62 huh."

One of DelleGrazie's employees told DNAinfo that the victim had owned A & D Ironworks for 45 years. Another said: "I worked for him for 10 years. He was a good guy. I love him. I miss him already."

And Troy Tecau, a 70-year-old man who witnessed DelleGrazie's awful death Monday, said in an interview with the local news site: "The victim flipped up in the air about 8 feet. He hit the ground hard. The [driver] took off. He took the truck up 22nd Street the wrong way. People were diving out of the way."

On the suspect's Facebook profile, he lists himself as a construction worker and a graduate of the Park Slope high school formerly known as the John Jay Educational Campus. On the day he was arrested, his mother wrote on her profile: "DESTROYED."