A hit-and-run victim died from his injuries Monday, almost two months after a driver struck him while crossing Atlantic Avenue.
Michael Williams, 45, who was experiencing homelessness, crossed the busy six-lane boulevard toward Crown Heights on Feb. 17 shortly after 11 pm when a driver heading east crashed into him and fled the scene.
Paramedics rushed Williams to the East Flatbush public hospital with injuries to his head and body, and medical staff pronounced him dead on April 5.
The NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the incident, but cops have not yet made any arrests. A police spokeswoman could not say whether the driver or Williams had the right-of-way at the time of the fatal crash.
The driver hit Williams right outside the Buford-Atlantic Armory homeless shelter, however, a Department of Homeless Services spokesman did not immediately confirm whether the victim lived there at the time.
At the intersection, 39 people have been injured in crashes since 2011, according to NYC Crash Mapper. Within a one-block radius, at least two people have died in crashes during the past decade.
The borough has been rocked by a string of hit-and-runs in recent months, notably two separate lethal crashes on Feb. 24.
That morning, a bus driver hit and killed six-year-old boy Shimon Fried outside his Williamsburg home and in the evening, a motorist hit 31-year-old Imorne Horton, who was crossing the dangerous Hamilton Avenue at Court Street on his way home to Red Hook.
Cops with the 90th Precinct found the bus driver who hit Fried later that day and took him in for questioning, but did not charge him with any crimes, according to a Department spokeswoman.
Investigators also found the driver who they believe hit Horton on March 4 and said the person was “cooperating,” but did not make any arrests, the rep said.
Police did not meaningfully respond to a follow-up request as to why both of these drivers were not charged with crimes, despite vocal calls for justice by Horton’s family.
“There are no arrests and both investigations remain ongoing,” said NYPD spokeswoman Detective Sophia Mason in a statement.
In 2020, NYPD made arrests in less than 1 percent of hit and runs, and the City Council in March passed a law to transfer the lead in serious crash investigations over to the Department of Transportation.
