An accused hit-and-run driver estimated he was going more than twice the speed limit when he fatally struck a construction worker on a Queens expressway — because he was hungry and anxious to get to Dunkin’ Donuts, according to prosecutors who have charged him with manslaughter.
Daveanand Budhai incriminated himself in a lengthy statement after the Friday morning wreck on the Nassau Expressway near JFK Airport in South Ozone Park that killed 44-year-old Isabel Alvarez, prosecutors say.
He was driving with a suspended license when he crashed, authorities charge, striking the victim so hard she flew 168 feet through the air.
“To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings,” Budhai told police, according to the criminal complaint against him. “I (had) just woke up. I was in a rush. I was in a rush because I wanted to get something to eat from Dunkin’ Donuts.”
Budhai, 25, was arraigned Saturday in Queens Criminal Court on charges including manslaughter, assault and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. He was ordered held on $500,000 bond.
Alvarez, who often told her mother how much she feared reckless drivers on the job, was covering a vacationing co-worker’s shift when she killed about 7:25 a.m. She lived in the Longwood section of the Bronx.
“This is too much for my heart. I can’t believe it,” her sobbing mother said Saturday. “My family is broken-hearted.”
She was struck while standing in a safety zone flagging cars between the exit ramp and the eastbound lanes of the Nassau Expressway near the Van Wyck Expressway, cops said.
Budhai was driving a 2018 Infiniti Q50S despite a suspended license, according to the complaint. He was about a mile from home when he crashed.
The speed limit was marked at 25 mph and the left lane of the two-lane exit ramp was blocked off with traffic drums. Alvarez wore a fluorescent safety vest and a hard hat, holding a “stop/slow” sign to direct motorists and the scene was clearly marked a construction zone, the complaint describes.
Budhai told police he was going at least 60 mph and knew he was heading into a construction zone but didn’t expect anyone to be working in it, he told police.
“The cause of the crash was my speed,” he told cops, according to the criminal complaint. “I know I was accelerating. I was speeding. I know I was speeding.”
He swerved left to avoid getting onto the Van Wyck, hit several traffic drums, and slammed into Alvarez, launching her 168 feet, according to the complaint. She landed on the shoulder of the road.
“I never saw her or the construction until the last minute,” he said, according to the complaint. “I did not get into the left lane earlier because there were cars. At that time, traffic was pretty good and there wasn’t much cars on the road. Yeah, it would be fair to say I had plenty of time to get over to the left.”
Budhai kept driving for more than a mile before pulling partially onto a sidewalk at 134th St. and South Conduit Ave., according to the complaint.
There, he stepped out of his vehicle to survey the severe front-end damage to his car, the complaint said. His windshield was shattered and partially knocked out, the front side bumper and hood were damaged. The interior of the vehicle was also damaged, with blood and glass inside the car, according to the complaint.
“I hit a barrel and that is when I blacked out. It was an accident but intentionally I was speeding. I left because I was nervous. I got nervous but my intent was to get back there to find out what happened,” he said, according to the complaint. “When I hit the barrel, the windscreen broke … I wasn’t trying to evade anything.”
Medics took Budhai to Jamaica Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries to his right hand.
Alvarez died at the scene.
A member of the Excavators Union Local 731, she was working on a New York State Department of Transportation project as a contractor, according to posts online.
She had worked in construction for about 15 years and was in the process of building her mother a vacation house in El Salvador, where the family is originally from.
“She’s a very, very good daughter. Working hard. Everybody loved her,” her mother said. “She’s a sweet, sweet lady. At her job, everybody cry.”
Budhai’s driving record shows his license has been suspended seven times, most recently in April 2024, prosecutors say.
“The defendant was ignoring the laws of the road, speeding and using a construction zone as his personal shortcut when his actions took the life of the worker,” Queens D.A. Melinda Katz said.
Budhai is due back in court Wednesday. His lawyer declined a request for comment.
With Rebecca White
