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Brooklyn Mom Naisha Sutton Arraigned in Hit-And-Run Death of Wall Streeter

By Julie Shapiro | September 20, 2010 6:13pm | Updated on September 21, 2010 6:19am
Naisha Sutton, 25, appeared in court Monday. She is charged with unlicensed driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Naisha Sutton, 25, appeared in court Monday. She is charged with unlicensed driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
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Pool Photo by Jefferson Siegel

By Shayna Jacobs and Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Staff

TRIBECA — Before Naisha Sutton fled the scene of a fatal TriBeCa accident on Sunday afternoon, she got out of her car and looked at the motorcyclist she had just hit, her lawyer said Monday.

The motorcyclist, Ronen Katz, 27, was seriously injured and would soon be pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital.

But at that moment he was still alive, Sutton, who is 25 and has a learner’s permit but no license, "observed the individual lying on the ground" at Canal and West Streets, said Howard Simmons, Sutton’s defense attorney, during her arraignment on Monday.

Sutton then got back in her maroon Nissan Sedan and took off before police could arrive, he said.

Ronen Katz, 27, was killed while riding his motorcycle in TriBeCa on Sunday.
Ronen Katz, 27, was killed while riding his motorcycle in TriBeCa on Sunday.
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The Creativity Foundation

She turned herself in about an hour later at Brooklyn’s 78th Precinct, according to the lawyer. She was arraigned on charges of unlicensed driving and leaving the scene of an accident, which is a felony.

Police blamed Sutton for the accident, since she collided with Katz while making an illegal left turn from West Street onto Canal Street. Katz was riding his red 2009 Ducati north on West Street when he hit Sutton’s passenger door, according to the complaint. Sutton said Katz was speeding.

Sutton, a stay-at-home mom from Brooklyn, left the scene because she was worried about her 22-month-old child, who was in the backseat at the time of the accident, Simmons said at the arraignment on Monday.

"Essentially this was the situation where she had her baby who was hysterical in the backseat of her car,” Simmons said. "She was concerned with the welfare of her child and in a panicked state. She's a young woman."

Sutton’s car then broke down on the Brooklyn Bridge, but a tow truck took her home and she then went to turn herself in, Simmons said.

Sutton also has a 6-year-old child and most recently worked for the Census Bureau, Simmons said.

Sutton’s bail was set at $10,000 and the case was adjourned to Sept. 27.