21 year old Raife Miligan was attempting to cross Houston Street near First Avenue last Monday around 2:45 am when the drunk driver fatally hit him.
According to an article published yesterday in the New York Post, just after he struck the student with his red Chevy Camaro, the driver told the police that he saw “a shadow running across the street” and while he tried to swerve to avoid it, he crashed into a Honda CRV and the divider. The officer who took the complaint wrote the following “I observed [de Guzman] ask the passenger of his vehicle if he hit the other car and the passenger stated to [de Guzman] in substance, no you just hit the guy, meaning the pedestrian,”.
The 21 year old student was critically injured in the crash and rushed to the hospital. However the injuries were so bad that he did not survive and died later on.
Raife Miligan studied biochemistry at NYU and was aspiring to be a doctor. He was a beloved student who was doing volunteer work delivering food to the elderly.
Among the 29 traffic violations that he racked up in the past were 4 speeding in school zone violations on December 10, December 20, January 5th and February 23rd in Brooklyn. The rest of the traffic violations were parking tickets including one for blocking a crosswalk in Queens.
de Guzman who is a Muai Thai trainer and the partial owner of a gym in Long island City was charged with felony vehicular assault in the second degree and two counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Picture of the victim: from the family’s Gofundme
Picture of Michael de Guzman in front of his car: Instagram