A self-described drug addict accused of hitting more than 11 people in a horrific July 4th crash has been placed in protective custody, a decision that has drawn outrage from the victims’ families.
In a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, prosecutors said a grand jury has not yet handed down an indictment against Daniel Christopher Hayden, 44, who was arrested and jailed without bail in connection with the fatal crash on the Lower East Side.
Heiden did not appear at the hearing, but friends of the families of Herman and Lucille Pinckney, two of the three people killed in the holiday tragedy, were there and accused Heiden of cowardice.
“Wow,” they shouted when the judge ordered Hyden into protective custody.
“Are you hiding out on probation?” said Kimberly Jackson, 58, the suspect in the murder of her friend, Lucille Pinckney.
“You should be a man. That’s not manly. You’re a real coward.”
Hyden, a substance abuse counselor who wrote the book “The Sober Addict,” is accused of drunkenly driving his gray Ford F-150 across a sidewalk at a Lower East Side intersection and into revelers celebrating the holiday at Corears Hook Park, killing three pedestrians.
The accident killed Lucille Pinckney (59), her son Herman Pinckney (38), and Anna Morell (43), who lived near the scene of the accident.
The eight others injured included Herman’s longtime girlfriend, Jessica Perot, and her 11-year-old son, Jacob Velazquez.
Heiden’s next court appearance is on August 1st.
