An arrest has been made in a deadly Brooklyn hit-and-run in which an ambulance struck and killed a pedestrian, closing in on answers in a case that had lingered for months. The charges bring accountability to a crash made all the more unsettling by the vehicle involved.
Police said the person now facing charges is 42-year-old Michael Gontar. He has been charged in connection with the death of 44-year-old Cherry Catano Sobel, the pedestrian who was hit and killed.
The crash happened in the Midwood section of Brooklyn about three months ago. According to police, Sobel was struck at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Avenue O, a spot that would become the focus of the investigation.
Surveillance video captured the moment. The footage shows the ambulance turning and running right over Sobel before driving off from the intersection, leaving the pedestrian in the road in what police classified as a hit-and-run.
There was a bitter irony to what followed. Sobel was rushed for treatment to Maimonides Medical Center, the very hospital that the ambulance involved in the crash belonged to, a detail the hospital confirmed on the day of the deadly collision.
The hospital has taken action of its own. In a statement, Maimonides leaders said the EMT crew involved in the crash have since been suspended, as the institution responded to a death tied to one of its own vehicles.
As for the criminal case, police said Gontar now faces charges including failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. Charged but not convicted, he is set to answer the allegations as the case moves forward through the courts.