Elvin Rivera

Introduction

Elvin Rivera is a 57-year-old Flushing man charged with manslaughter after prosecutors say he ran a stop sign while impaired by cocaine and THC, accelerating his white Chevrolet Silverado pickup into a stroller and killing one-year-old Justin Hu on a Sunday morning in the Murray Hill section of Queens. The child’s nanny, who was pushing the stroller in a marked crosswalk with the right of way, was injured in the October 11, 2026 crash. Rivera was arraigned the next day in Queens Criminal Court on charges including manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter and multiple driving-under-the-influence counts, pleaded not guilty, and was remanded without bail by Judge Michael Katz.

The crash drew attention not only for the child’s death but for what prosecutors disclosed at arraignment: at the time he allegedly killed Justin Hu, Rivera was already facing an open DWI case in the Bronx from an April 2026 incident.

Background Information

Rivera, 57, lives on 150th Place in Flushing, according to NY Ledger’s account of the criminal complaint. At approximately 8:35 a.m. on Sunday, October 11, 2026, prosecutors allege, he was driving a white 2016 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck northbound on Murray Street toward 32nd Avenue when he rolled through a stop sign on 32nd Avenue without stopping, accelerated through the intersection, and struck and ran over the stroller holding Justin Hu, who was being pushed by his nanny. The intersection sits within the NYPD’s 109th Precinct, and the Hu family’s home on Bayside Avenue was roughly three blocks away. The child was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead shortly after; the 69-year-old nanny was taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital with pain and damage to her right arm and was listed in stable condition.

Per the district attorney’s account of the charges, Rivera remained at the scene and was taken into custody by officers from the 109th Precinct without further incident. He failed a field sobriety test, and a drug test administered at the scene detected cocaine and THC in his system. The open DWI case pending against him in the Bronx dated from April 2026 — a fact the Queens District Attorney’s Office disclosed in announcing the new charges, and one Hoodline noted raised questions about how he was still behind the wheel months later.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged with manslaughter. Rivera faces manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol/drugs, driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug, reckless driving, and driving by an unlicensed operator. He pleaded not guilty and is held without bail. The charges are accusations; he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and an attorney for Rivera did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

The New York Post carried the story to its readers under a headline stating the allegations bluntly: “Coked-up NYC motorist, with prior DWI bust, runs down, kills baby in stroller: DA.” The same headline went to its followers on X. Prosecutors’ account of the charges holds that Rivera rolled through the stop sign on 32nd Avenue without stopping, accelerated through the intersection, and struck and ran over the one-year-old, who was in the stroller his 69-year-old nanny was pushing across 32nd Avenue in the marked crosswalk with the right of way. Justin Hu was pronounced dead shortly after the collision at the hospital.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, announcing the charges, called the loss of baby Justin “heartbreaking” and “completely avoidable”: “As alleged, Elvin Rivera got behind the wheel of his pickup truck on a Sunday morning while impaired by both cocaine and THC. He then recklessly ran a stop sign, accelerated through the intersection and plowed into a 1-year-old boy who was being pushed in a stroller and killed the child.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case immediately drew scrutiny to how a driver with a pending DWI case was still on the road. Hoodline, citing the open Bronx matter from April, wrote that it raised “questions about how he was still driving months later when the fatal Flushing crash occurred.” Katz added, “Tragically, innocent victims are killed every day in this county due to drugged and reckless driving, and my office will aggressively seek justice for Justin Hu and his family.” ABC7 New York, which first reported details of the crash, reported the nanny survived with a damaged right arm, and the station’s account formed the basis of early reporting on the custody and the scene drug test.

The arraignment itself carried consequences beyond the charges: Judge Michael Katz remanded Rivera into custody without bail, meaning the 57-year-old will answer the case from jail rather than the community. The Queens DA’s Office assigned the prosecution to Assistant District Attorney Brian Cox of its Vehicular Homicide Unit, with Assistant District Attorney Angelica Judge, under the supervision of Vehicular Homicide Unit Chief Jonathan Selkowe and Homicide Bureau Deputy Bureau Chief John Kosinski.

Current Status

Rivera remains in custody without bail pending his next court date. He is due back in Queens Criminal Court on October 19, 2026, and faces a potential maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge of second-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts, no attorney was identified in coverage, and he has made no public statement. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The April 2026 Bronx DWI case remains open alongside the new prosecution; neither outlet reporting on it indicated it had been resolved before the Flushing crash. As of October 13, 2026, no wrongful-death civil suit by the Hu family had been reported.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Justin Hu’s family, the loss is total: a one-year-old boy killed three blocks from his home on an errand walk with his nanny, who herself was injured and is recovering. For Rivera, a 57-year-old Flushing resident with an open DWI case in another borough, the practical consequence of the crash is a manslaughter prosecution that could keep him in prison into his seventies, litigated from custody without bail. The case has also become a fresh data point in New York’s recurring argument over repeat impaired drivers — how a person awaiting a Bronx driving-while-intoxicated case could, eight months later, allegedly be behind a pickup truck high on cocaine and THC when a toddler died. Whether that scrutiny produces any change in bail practice or license holds is, for now, unresolved; what is settled is that the top count against Rivera carries up to fifteen years, and the prosecution has been assigned to a specialized vehicular homicide unit.

Sources

New York Post, “Coked-up NYC motorist, with prior DWI bust, runs down, kills baby in stroller: DA,” Oct. 13, 2026 — source
Queens District Attorney, “Flushing Driver Charged With Manslaughter and DWI for Killing Baby in Stroller,” Oct. 12, 2026 — source
NY Ledger, “Flushing man charged with manslaughter for killing a baby in stroller while driving under influence of drugs: DA,” Oct. 13, 2026 — source
Hoodline, “Flushing Stroller Crash Kills Baby, Driver Charged,” Oct. 13, 2026 — source
ABC7 New York, “Driver charged in Flushing crash that killed 1-year-old boy in stroller,” Oct. 13, 2026 — source
@nypost on X, “Coked-up NYC motorist, with prior DWI bust, runs down, kills baby in stroller: DA,” Oct. 14, 2026 — source