2 hours ago
3
A hit-and-run SUV driver who fatally mowed down a gospel drummer and “loving father” of a 4-year-old boy in East Willliamsburg in February finally surrendered to police Monday, cops said.
Gregory Ventura, 35, turned himself with a lawyer at a Downtown Brooklyn police precinct around 8:40 a.m. and was charged with criminally negligent homicide for striking Joshua Germain, 31, the early morning of Feb. 15, authorities and sources said.
Germain was crossing Vandervoort Avenue at the Maspeth Avenue intersection around 12:15 a.m. when Ventura, who was behind the wheel of a Nissan Murano, struck him and drove off, police said.
The gravely injured Germain was rushed to the Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he succumbed to his injuries Feb. 20 – his father’s birthday.
Just a week earlier, Germain had attended an event at his son’s school, his dad, Jean Germain, told The Post on Monday.
“He made sure that he was at every game, every school event,” the elder Germain said. “The last event he went to with his son was like a little party they had at the school. He was there with his son on a Friday before he passed away.
“A week before [his death], he was at his son’s school, and tomorrow that’s his son’s graduation,” he added. “He loved his son. He was a lovely son, a lovely father.”
In his own school days, Germain was a stand-out drummer, winning an award at McDonald’s Gospelfest for his percussion performance as a high- schooler, his dad said.
He also had a passion for mentoring those younger than him, according to his father.
“When he was in high school, he used to work with children and young kids. That’s the kind of kid he was growing up,” he said. “All those kids’ parents came to his funeral, all the kids, because they’re grown now, they all came to his funeral.”
As an adult, Germain was a “hardworking man” with a “nice union job,” his dad said.
“He was helping everybody on the street, everybody that he loves,” the older Germain added.
“My son is very, very fun to be around – always smiling, always, always smiling, always ready to help friends, always ready to help people, like old ladies, old men.”
After learning of Germain’s death, those he helped tried to “repay” the family “because of what my son did for them,” his dad said.
“But people calling me, talking to me, supporting me, that’s all I need from people, and that’s what I’m getting from them, you know?” he said.
In the months after the tragic hit-and-run, Jean Germain said he has filled his young grandson’s life with travel.
“After his father passed away, I sent him on a cruise,” he said. “He went to Playa del Carmen, he went to Aruba. My grandson, already four years old, has six stamps on his passport.”
Asked if the alleged hit-and-run driver’s arrest brought him some solace, he only replied, “Yes … yes.”
“To me, it’s a big loss,” he added of his son’s death.
Ventura, who has no previous arrests, was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death, reckless driving and moving unsafely from a lane, police said.
He was arraigned on an indictment in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Monday and granted supervised release by Justice Danny Chun – as requested by prosecutors – because he surrendered on his own accord.
He will reappear in court Aug. 18, the Brooklyn DA’s office said.
English (US)