A drunk driver who killed four people and injured seven others when he ploughed his pickup truck into a Fourth of July barbecue in a Manhattan park has been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison.
A Day of Celebration Turns to Tragedy
On the evening of 4 July 2024, a group of friends and family were enjoying a holiday picnic at Corlears Hook Park in Manhattan. Their gathering was shattered when a Ford F-150, driven by 46-year-old Daniel Hyden of Monmouth, New Jersey, jumped a kerb, smashed through a chain-link fence, and careered into the crowd.
The truck's momentum was only stopped by the bodies trapped beneath it, coming to a halt just feet from survivor Halena Herrera. The crash killed Ana Morel, 43; Lucille Pinkney, 59; her son, Herman Pinkney, 38; and Emily Ruiz, 30, who was Ms Herrera's best friend.
A Trail of Destruction and a Contested Apology
Prosecutors detailed a horrifying sequence of events. Less than an hour before the crash, Hyden had been refused entry to a nearby party boat and clashed with security. Police who attended that incident testified they saw nothing warranting an arrest and left him on a park bench.
He then got behind the wheel. Data showed he accelerated through a stop sign at 39 mph (63 kph), sped through a construction zone, and mounted the pavement at speeds up to 54 mph (87 kph) before reaching the park. Prosecutors stated Hyden had the accelerator pressed fully and did not brake until half a second before impact. After hitting the crowd, he tried to put the vehicle in reverse, but witnesses intervened and removed the keys.
At his sentencing on Friday 16 January 2026 in Manhattan State Court, Hyden, a substance abuse counsellor who had written a book on addiction, described the event as an "accident." He claimed he had broken his sobriety after his own sister was killed by a drunk driver in New Jersey in 2021. "What kind of human being would put other human beings through the same thing he was going through?" he asked the court.
His apology was met with scorn from the victims' families. "He has shown no remorse from the very beginning," Halena Herrera told reporters. "For him to sit there and say that he’s sorry is just — I don’t believe any of it."
Life Sentences: One Handed Down, Others Lived
Judge April A. Newbauer imposed the lengthy prison term after Hyden was convicted in November at a non-jury trial on charges including murder and aggravated vehicular homicide.
For the survivors and grieving families, a different life sentence continues. Halena Herrera, who was hit in the face by debris and now studies to become a therapist, battles depression and post-traumatic stress. "Learning that the only reason I lived was because four other people were dying under the car is still very hard to deal with," she said.
She and Diamond Pinkney, the son and brother of two victims, both expressed a desire that Hyden remain imprisoned for life. "I'm glad that at least now there's some sense of justice," Herrera said. "It doesn't help much. It doesn't bring anything back."
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, "If you are intoxicated, do not get behind the wheel — it risks the lives of others, and you will be prosecuted." The sentence closes a legal chapter, but for those whose lives were irrevocably changed on that July evening, the road to recovery stretches far ahead.
