Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Edward Garzon was arraigned on charges of leaving the scene of a deadly December 2021 hit-and-run near the Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale that killed an elderly woman. The charges were brought after District Attorney Katz formed a Vehicular Homicide Unit to not only investigate current cases but to examine older ones in which no arrest had been made.

District Attorney Katz said: “I created a Vehicular Homicide Unit and assembled experts to make sure that every family gets closure. Working with our partners at the NYPD, we reviewed unsolved cases and today we’re announcing that a defendant will be held accountable for the death of a woman who was hit and left to die on a Queens street in December 2021.”

Garzon, 43, of Dothan, Alabama, – formerly of Queens – was arraigned yesterday on the charge of leaving the scene of a fatal collision before Supreme Court Justice Michael Hartofilis who ordered the defendant to return to court on July 22.

Bail was set at $10,000 and he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

According to the charges:

• On December 13, 2021, at approximately 4:50 p.m., Garzon was driving a black 2015 Mercedes Benz S550 headed eastbound on Cooper Avenue between 82^nd Street and 83^rd Street.
• At the same time Garzon drove up to the intersection of Cooper and 83^rd Street, a pedestrian, 79-year-old Helena Conti of Queens, was in the roadway crossing the street.
• Without slowing or steering from a straight path, Garzon hit Conti, then left the scene without stopping.
• Conti was taken to a local hospital where she later died due to severe head trauma suffered during the collision.
• After an insurance claim for damage was filed, investigators found the Mercedes at a local auto body shop where it had been dropped off for repair.
• Investigators obtained DNA samples consistent with the victim, Helena Conti, from the vehicle’s windshield, headlight, and other plastic remnants from the 2015 Mercedes Benz.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Frank Cardamone of NYPD Highway Unit #3.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Cox of the District Attorney’s Vehicular Homicide Unit is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Selkowe, Vehicular Homicide Unit Chief, and John Kosinski, Homicide Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Major Crimes Shawn Clark.