WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
D.A. BROWN: QUEENS MAN CONVICTED IN 2003 FATAL HIT AND RUN OF 10-YEAR-OLD ASTORIA BOY ON BICYCLE
Faces Up To 15 Years In Prison
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that an Astoria man has been convicted of the hit-and-run death of a 10-year-old boy who was struck and killed while riding his bicycle in April 2003.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant has been convicted by a jury of his peers of recklessly using his vehicle to fatally injure an innocent young boy who was simply enjoying an early spring evening by riding his bicycle in his Astoria neighborhood. The defendant then compounded the tragedy by fleeing the scene and leaving the boy laying in the street in an extremely critical condition. The defendant’s action warrants that he now serves serious prison time.”
District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Emmanuel Kanios, 21, of 25-39 80 Street in Astoria, Queens. The defendant was found guilty of Manslaughter in the Second Degree and Leaving the Scene of an Incident as a felony.
District Attorney Brown said that a jury of six men and six women deliberated for less than an hour after a two-week trial and returned a verdict of guilty before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Kohm who set a sentencing date of October 18, 2005. The defendant, who had been out on $10,000 bail since his arrest in April 2003, was ordered remanded. He faces up to fifteen years in prison.
The District Attorney said that according to trial testimony, the defendant on April 12, 2003, at about 7:15 p.m., recklessly caused the death of Stephan Trajkovski, 10, at the intersection of 75th Street and Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens by recklessly operating his vehicle.
Assistant District Attorney Denise Tirino of District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jack Warsawsky, Deputy Bureau Chief and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorneys Charles A. Testagrossa and Daniel A. Saunders, of the Major Crimes Division.