By Michele Evans | NYWeeklyRecord.com | July 17, 2026
There were no emotional outbursts. No dramatic arguments. No words from the man accused of leaving two fathers dead and three other people injured on an Upper West Side street.
Only silence.
When 61-year-old Elvin Suarez appeared before Judge Gregory Carro in Manhattan Supreme Court this week, he entered wearing civilian clothes, a dark sweater over a white-collared shirt. He looked somber and kept quiet throughout the proceeding.
I was there.
Eight court officers were present to escort Suarez into and out of the courtroom, although his hands were not restrained behind his back. He is currently on supervised release.
The only sudden movement came from the press gallery.
After a court officer quietly alerted a photographer, “This is your guy,” the photographer quickly moved to the left side of the gallery and began taking pictures. Judge Carro immediately reprimanded him before restoring order in the courtroom.
Then the assistant district attorney rose and carefully walked the court through what prosecutors say happened on May 15.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Suarez was allegedly intoxicated and driving northbound on Amsterdam Avenue at a high rate of speed shortly before 6 p.m. Prosecutors allege he first struck an unoccupied parked vehicle between West 107th and West 108th streets before continuing through the intersection at West 109th Street and crossing over the raised median separating the roadway from the bicycle lane.
The Mercedes-Benz then allegedly struck four pedestrians and an occupied parked vehicle.
Prosecutors say the force of the collision threw three pedestrians several feet and pushed the occupied vehicle into additional parked cars, creating a chain-reaction crash. Suarez’s SUV eventually came to a stop, and prosecutors allege he exited the vehicle before lying beside it at the direction of bystanders.
When police arrived, 46-year-old Jason Negron was trapped beneath the Mercedes and unresponsive. Thirty-five-year-old Michael Saint-Hilaire was receiving CPR from a bystander. Both men later died from their injuries.
Three others survived but suffered serious injuries. Prosecutors say one victim sustained an open fracture to his right leg, another suffered fractures to his back, and the driver of the parked vehicle sustained injuries to his head, neck and shoulder.
The assistant district attorney recounted each allegation in measured detail.
Then she concluded simply:
“This is a serious case.”
It is.
A New York County grand jury has indicted Suarez on five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault and one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated. The charges are allegations, and Suarez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg described Negron and Saint-Hilaire as devoted fathers, loyal friends and beloved members of the Upper West Side community, calling the crash an allegedly preventable tragedy caused by impaired driving.
Despite the heartbreaking allegations, little happened procedurally during this appearance.
No witnesses testified.
No evidence was introduced.
Suarez never addressed the court.
His supervised-release status remained unchanged, and Judge Carro scheduled the next court appearance before concluding the proceeding.
Some court appearances are remembered for explosive testimony or dramatic rulings.
Others are remembered for their silence.
This was one of them.
Two men are dead.
Three others are still recovering.
And a courtroom full of people quietly watched the criminal justice system take another measured step toward determining what happened on an Upper West Side sidewalk that forever changed multiple families.
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