Reckless driver who allegedly struck, killed NYC car wash worker is busted 2 years later: cops

A reckless Bronx driver who allegedly struck and killed a car wash employee – pinning him against a vehicle he was drying – has been arrested more than two years later, cops said. 

Trina Bryant, 32, was picked up at her home by the NYPD’s Warrants Squad Thursday afternoon in connection to the caught-on-video Feb. 19, 2023 crash in Morrisania, authorities said. 

She was charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident, police said. 

Bryant allegedly veered her 2011 Ford Escape directly into the path of a 2017 Toyota Rav4, which Felix Thomas Bontia, 47, was drying after a washing outside the business on Webster Avenue near East 168th Street, police said.

Bontia had his back turned to oncoming southbound traffic outside the car wash when Bryant allegedly whizzed into a bus lane and struck both Bontia and the Toyota, with a 58-year-old man behind the wheel, according to cops and the footage. 

Bontia became wedged between both vehicles before he was thrown to the ground, cops said. 

He was rushed to Lincoln Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. 

The Toyota driver was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition with minor injuries, authorities said. 

The Toyota also struck a parked, unoccupied 2014 Nissan Altima because of the impact, according to cops. 

Meanwhile, Bryant’s Ford came to a final rest about a block away, where both she and her front passenger got out and ran off, police said. 

Her passenger had not been caught by Thursday. 

Bryant pleaded not guilty during her arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court and was ordered held on $250,000 cash bail or $750,000 bond, online court records show. 

She has seven prior arrests – none for driving-related offenses, cops said. 

Her last arrest was in September of 2023 for allegedly violating an order of protection an acquaintance had in place, authorities said.