FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter
In Fatal Bushwick Car Crash
Fled Police and Ran Red Light at 75 Mile Per Hour, Victim Was Ejected from Vehicle
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Cypress Hills man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges in connection with a fatal collision that killed a 29-year-old woman in Bushwick. The defendant was speeding away from police when he ran a red light and struck a vehicle the victim was a passenger in. He pleaded guilty in exchange for a promised sentence of four to 12 years in prison.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant’s reckless and criminal actions cost an innocent woman her life, devastating her family and loved ones. By fleeing police at high speed through dense city streets, he showed a complete disregard for the safety of others. With his guilty plea, he has accepted responsibility for the irreversible harm he caused, and he will be held accountable.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Juan Lopez, 33, of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. He pleaded guilty today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Edward King to second-degree manslaughter, first-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting where serious physical injury or death results. The defendant was held without bail following his guilty plea and is expected to be sentenced to an indeterminate term of four to 12 years in prison on September 30, 2025.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on May 26, 2024, at approximately 5:28 a.m., officers from the NYPD’s 83rd Precinct activated lights and sirens and attempted to stop the defendant, who was driving a black 2018 Mercedes Benz at a high rate of speed on Gates Avenue in Bushwick. The defendant failed to pull over, accelerated through a steady red light at the intersection of Gates Avenue and Central Avenue, and collided with a 2005 Honda Pilot that was traveling through the intersection with a green light. A review of the vehicle’s black box determined the defendant was traveling at approximately 75 miles per hour five seconds before the crash.
The impact caused the victim, Micah Elizabeth Dukes, 29, who was a passenger in the Honda, to be ejected from the vehicle. She suffered severe head and facial injuries as well as a punctured lung and was transported to Elmhurst Hospital. She was transferred to NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, where she died due to her injuries on June 8, 2024.
Following the crash, the defendant fled the scene on foot and was apprehended by responding officers. Officers observed signs of intoxication, and the defendant later admitted to consuming alcohol before getting behind the wheel.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Velez, Deputy Chief the District Attorney’s Street Safety Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Nocella, Chief of the Street Safety Bureau, assisted in the case.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Christopher Brogna, of the District Attorney’s Grey Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, Bureau Chief.
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