A man who slammed his BMW into a single mom while she shopped for her only son’s graduation party at a Staten Island yard sale was arrested Thursday for leaving the scene of the fatal crash, cops said
Bruce Arneaud, 28, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death for the hit-and-run collision that killed Diana Rolon, according to police. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday and was released without bail.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling,” the victim’s niece, Emily Feliciano, 33, told the Daily News. “If everything goes through and he gets time, we’ll feel justice and closure. But nothing’s going to bring her back.”
Rolon, 60, was at a yard sale just a few blocks from her home when the white BMW SUV heading south on Decker Ave. struck her before speeding off toward Post Ave. in Port Richmond about 4:18 p.m. on June 21, police said.
Moments before the crash, the victim had found some picture frames she wanted to fill with images of her only son, Michael, 17, for a party celebrating his graduation from Michael J. Petrides High School, Feliciano said. Rolon was dashing back to her car to grab cash when the BMW struck her, the victim’s niece said. Cops said Rolon was crossing the street midblock when she was struck.
“He says every day starts with a different emotion,” Feliciano said of the victim’s son. “Some days he’s OK. Some days he’s crying. I think he’s trying to hold it together, because he’s by himself now.”
Diana Rolon is pictured with her son, Michael, at his high school graduation. (GoFundMe)
Rolon suffered an intracranial hemorrhage. She was “immediately intubated” and rushed to Richmond University Medical Center in critical condition, where she underwent emergency brain surgery, her family said in an online fundraiser. She also sustained fractures to her right arm, left leg and face.
Doctors declared her brain dead and she died in the hospital three days after the crash.
“If he’d just stayed and tried to help her, we’d feel a lot different,” Emily said. “The fact he actually left, it’s a different feeling. It’s anger. Sadness and anger.”
Rolon worked on Staten Island as a school paraprofessional at PS 373R, in Tompkinsville.
“She loved her job. She loved the teachers she worked for, the students that she was with,” her niece said. “She said that every time she walked into the building, she felt happiness.”
Diana Rolon (center) is pictured with her family on her 60th birthday. (GoFundMe)
Rolon’s family hosted a fundraiser at Jimmy Max Pizzeria in Staten Island on Wednesday to help cover her medical and funeral expenses.
“The number of people that came to show support and love, it was so beautiful to see because that is what Diana was about,” Emily said. “She was very much about keeping the family together and making sure we always had traditions.”
Arneaud also lives in the borough, in New Brighton. This is his first arrest in New York City.
An attorney for Arneaud declined comment.