Cops have nabbed a speeding hit-and-run driver who fatally struck a Harlem bicyclist while fleeing an NYPD car stop in a stolen minivan four months ago, police said Thursday.
Facial recognition technology helped police identify Enesin Delarosa, who was charged Wednesday with manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal crash, fleeing police and possession of stolen property for the Nov. 2 crash.
Delarosa, 26, is accused of mowing down bicyclist Devon Hughley, 45, near W.155th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. while fleeing the car stop. He sped off when police tried to pull him over for a traffic infraction at W. 152nd St. and Broadway, cops said.
Medics rushed the bicyclist to Harlem Hospital but he could not be saved.
“Devon’s greatest joy in life was his family, especially his children, whom he loved beyond words,” an obituary for the victim says. The lifelong Harlemite leaves behind four children and a stepson, the obituary says.
The victim as a child “was seen in popping wheelies in his aunts wheelchair, which he’d later go on to do with motorcycles and four wheelers in countless videos,” his obituary says. “He was definitely one of the best to do it in the streets of Harlem, his home town. Devon was always, unintentionally, the life of the party!”
During their investigation, members of the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad recovered surveillance video of the van driver. Using facial recognition technology, cops were able to get a tentative ID, which was confirmed by a police officer who had dealt with Delarosa previously, a police source said.
After a Manhattan Grand Jury indicted him for the crash, cops arrested Delarosa at a court appearance for an unrelated crime.
Delarsoa lives in the Bronx and has numerous prior arrests for grand larceny and stolen property, cops said. Records show he was paroled in June 2020 after serving seven months in state prison for a Bronx stolen property conviction.
He was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday.
The minivan was stolen in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx about 10 days before the crash, police said.
Cops later learned two people on a scooter were seen checking vehicles for unlocked doors before the minivan was stolen. Cops have not yet proven if Delarosa was one of the men on the scooter and so he is charged with possession of the stolen van but not with stealing it.
In addition to being a devoted dad, Hughley had three dogs who “were not just pets but beloved family members and companions through every season of life,” his obituary says. “He always made sure his dogs felt cherished, protected and loved. They were his solace. They kept him grounded and sane in the midst of insanity that this world could sometimes display.”
It wasn’t clear if cops pursued Delarosa when he fled the Harlem car stop but the fatal crash renewed concerns that the NYPD, which in 2023 decreed it was done letting suspects routinely speed away from them, is too aggressive in pursuing suspects in vehicles.
In January, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch revised that approach, limiting chases only to suspects who have committed a felony or violent misdemeanor.