A Manhattan driver whose commercial truck fatally struck a motorcycle-riding off-duty NYPD cop on a Brooklyn highway last year was sentenced to up to four years in jail for leaving the scene of the crash.
Prosecutors and the family of the victim, Jay Peña, 30, slammed the defendant, Carlos Almanzar Toribio, saying he callously disregarded the life of a dedicated family man and public servant.
“You chose to desert and abandon our Jay,” Sydney Rodgriguez, a family friend, said in Brooklyn Criminal Court before Almanzar Toribio was sentenced.
She called the defendant a “coward” and said “things could have turned out different” if he had stayed at the scene.
Almanzar Toribio, who pleaded guilty, was not charged in connection with Peña’s death, only for leaving the scene, prosecutors said.
That distinction never sat well with Perez’s family, as evidenced by a melee that erupted during a previous court proceeding.
During that hearing in September, Peña’s brother, Jason, 18, lunged at a member of Almanzar Toribio’s family, and was charged with disorderly conduct.
Almanzar Toribio, 30, was driving a 2020 Freightliner box truck on Aug. 27, 2025, on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway near Atlantic Ave. in the direction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge when he collided with Peña’s Yamaha motorcycle, cops said.
Peña, a four-year NYPD veteran assigned to the 84th Precinct in Downtown Brooklyn, was thrown from his motorcycle, which kept going down the highway, slamming into a wall and exploding into flames, video posted on social media shows.
Peña was taken to NYU Langone Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Video also shows Pena’s body rolling out from under the truck after impact, and eyewitnesses said they saw Almanzar Toribio observe the officer’s body on the ground, and dislodge part of the motorcycle from under his truck.
Cops used surveillance video to track the truck, and later discovered that the license plates had been swapped, officials said.
“The defendant’s actions demonstrate a callous disregard for those around him,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Despite knowing he caused a serious traffic incident, the defendant left the scene. While nothing can replace Officer Peña or fully heal the grief and loss of his family and friends, I hope this prison sentence provides some sense of closure.”
Family members said they were devastated by Peña’s death.
“Jay was a star in every way,” Peña’s mother, Doris Pena, said in a statement that was read in court. “He was a devoted son, devoted grandson, devoted cousin and friend. He was a devoted citizen, recognized by his fellow cops. He was known to be the brave one. The one who jumped at the opportunity to save someone’s life on the Brooklyn Bridge without thinking twice.”
Peña’s mother said he had recently passed the test to join the NYPD’s scuba team, and was waiting to be transferred.