The DUI suspect in a deadly Fourth of July party on the Lower East Side has a lengthy criminal history that includes an outrageous assault on an addiction counseling trainee and a “DWI” arrest after a crazed man crashed his SUV into a Christmas parade near a Wisconsin city.
Violence and drunken mayhem had been brewing around Daniel Christopher Hayden, 44, long before police said he crashed his pickup truck into a crowded park Thursday night, killing three people and injuring eight, according to court records, law enforcement and his own documents.
Atiba Boyce, 41, told The Post that Hyden, who was an instructor at a substance abuse counseling school in East Harlem, became enraged during class in February and threw a chair at her.
“I never smelled alcohol on his breath while he was in class, but something was off. I don’t know what it was,” Boyce said Friday, saying it’s not unreasonable for Hyden to be a suspect in the fatal crash.
“He was very aggressive.”
Police have charged Hyden with assault and harassment in the Feb. 29 incident, according to a law enforcement source.
The NYPD has had two previous run-ins with Hyden, both for assault cases in January 2020 and October 2022 that have since been sealed, according to sources.
Heiden, a substance abuse counselor and self-described “former professional addict,” has never hidden his struggle with addiction from the public.
He took on positions mentoring other addicts in various locations around the city, from Montefiore to Lincoln Hospital to a nonprofit called Services for UnderServed, and even wrote a book titled “The Sober Addict,” in which he described his multiple run-ins with the law.
“I’ve taken many mug shots over the years and can honestly say I have a fascinating gallery of embarrassing photos that show the debilitating effects of addiction,” he wrote.
“Like many people with my condition, it is believed that my arrest by police and incarceration are due to drug use and abuse.”
One such legal battle took place in Wisconsin in 2015, when a local police officer noticed Hyden driving without his lights on, according to court records obtained by The Washington Post.
According to records, Hyden told officers he was driving home from an Oktoberfest celebration in Milwaukee, where he had “just had one mug of beer.”
But officers noted that Heiden was slurring his speech and smelled of beer, according to records, and that his blood alcohol content was 0.13 percent, above the Wisconsin legal limit of 0.08 percent.
A glass mug filled with a three-inch beer was found in Hyden’s vehicle, records show.
The arrest took place near Waukeska, where in 2021 a deranged man, Darrell Brooks, drove his SUV into a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring more than 60, a holiday horror incident that bears eerily but not exactly similarities to the Independence Day Massacre linked to Hayden.
Heiden had two previous DUI convictions in New Jersey, in 2006 and 2011, according to Wisconsin court records.
Heiden ultimately pleaded guilty to a third DUI charge in Wisconsin and was sentenced to 130 days in jail, records show.
Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper said she regretted the deadly shooting on the Lower East Side.
“Here in Waukesha, we can certainly understand the pain and suffering of all those affected when a motor vehicle is used as a weapon against innocent people trying to enjoy a holiday gathering,” she said in a statement.
“If the allegation that the driver was intoxicated at the time of the incident is true, we are outraged and want the driver to be held fully accountable.”
Police said Hyden’s most recent police incident prior to the crash was a fight with Boyce at a trade school in East Harlem in February.
Boyce said the row began when he complained to superiors at Recoveries R Us about Heiden’s condescending and hostile attitude.
He said Hyden threatened him, threatened to fight and then attacked him.
“We struggled a little bit,” Boyce said.
A representative for Recoveries R Us, where the incident occurred, told The Washington Post they could not comment on Heiden or the incident, citing the ongoing investigation into the February assault.
Officials said Hyden punched Boyce in the eye and was facing assault charges.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not respond Friday to a request for information about the status of the case.
Boyce told The Post he hopes prosecutors will require Hyden to undergo anger management treatment and community service.
“I wanted him to deal with his own emotions because what I said should not have been the catalyst for his reaction,” he said.
“It feels like there’s something underneath it.”
Additional reporting by Megan Palin
