A hit-and-run driver plowed into a man walking his dogs on a Queens street, killing one of the pets — and callously got food at Popeyes after fleeing, authorities said Wednesday.
Javid Vythilingum, 20, was arrested Sunday for the Feb. 21 crash in South Richmond Hill that left one dog dead and its owner badly hurt.
“I got nervous,” Vythilingum told police after he was nabbed, according to court papers. “I went to Popeyes then I went home. I didn’t call 911.”
The 59-year-old victim was crossing the street with his two dogs when a gray Jeep Cherokee plowed into him near 101st Ave. and 118th St., cops said.
The pet owner was rushed to an area hospital with bleeding in the brain, a concussion and pain along the left side of his body, according to court documents.
Vythilingum stopped his car for a moment after the crash but then sped off, cops learned from surveillance footage, according to court papers.
Backtracking the Jeep’s movements before the 2:50 a.m. crash, cops learned Vythilingum and two friends parked their vehicle near that intersection and went into a nearby nightclub called Zen about midnight.
The trio stayed at the nightclub until about 2:45 a.m., when they were seen piling back into the Jeep and driving off, almost immediately crashing into the victim and his dogs. Vythilingum was recorded getting behind the wheel moments before the crash, prosecutors said.
“That’s me,” Vythilingum told police when he was showed surveillance pictures of the Jeep Cherokee driver, according to court documents. “That’s the car I was driving.”
Vythilingum said that he didn’t see the dogs and their owner until it was too late.
“He was on the side of the corner so I didn’t see him,” he told police. “Then I hit the guy.”
Vythilingum confessed he sped off for a couple of blocks, then pulled over — but opted to get something to eat instead of calling authorities.
“I never came back,” he allegedly told police.
Vythilingum is charged with leaving the scene of an accident and leaving the scene of injury to animals.
Neither charge is bail eligible so a Queens Criminal Court judge ordered him released during his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Monday. He’s due back in court on March 20.
Attempts to reach his Legal Aid attorney were unsuccessful Wednesday.
