STATEN ISLAND — A driver involved in an accident that left one woman dead and another in critical condition was ordered held without bail at his Tuesday arraignment, prosecutors said.
Hasim Smith, 22, was charged with felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident without reporting it at his arraignment, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
Smith — who's been arrested several times for motor vehicle incidents — was speeding in his 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse on Richmond Avenue when he ran a red light on Sunday night, police said.
He swerved to avoid another car making a left turn and crashed into a traffic pole at the middle of the intersection at Richmond Hill Road, police said.
Police responded and found Alize Jorge, 19, unconscious in the back seat of the car at about 10:45 p.m. She was taken to Staten Island University Hospital North where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Porsha Richardson, 18, was found on the pavement outside the car and was taken to the same hospital with brain trauma and put in a medically induced coma, prosecutors said.
Smith left the scene of the accident and was later arrested at 3:39 a.m. Monday morning, police said.
In February, Smith was arrested after he tried to flee from a police stop while driving with a suspended license. During that chase, he crashed his car into a utility pole then rammed a woman cleaning snow off her car, prosecutors said.
He was arrested twice in 2014, once for possession of cocaine and another for leaving the scene of another accident, according to online court records.
In 2013, he was arrested after he blew through several red lights after trying to steal ATVs from a home in Graniteville, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Smith's due back in court on Friday.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
