A promising health professional at the start of her career was killed in Brooklyn over the weekend when a drunk Mercedes driver plowed into her car while fleeing cops, police said.
The tragic wreck happened around 5:30 a.m. Sunday when 32-year-old Juan Lopez – who was behind the wheel of a Mercedes – blew a red light while fleeing cops from a traffic stop in Bushwick, police said.
He then slammed into a Honda Pilot, sending Micah Dukes, 29 — who was in the back seat — flying from the car, cops said.
She was rushed to the Elmhurst Hospital Center and pronounced dead.
After ramming the Honda on Central Avenue near Gates Avenue, Lopez lost control of his ride and mounted the sidewalk, cops said. He was busted at the scene.
Dukes, who was from Albany, attended Hudson Valley Community College, where she studied Community Health Navigation and graduated in May 2023 with an Associate of Applied Science, according to a spokeswoman for the school.
During her senior year at Hudson Valley, Dukes completed a four-month internship with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County, a local educational center focusing on the environment, energy, nutrition, health and wellness, among other areas, according to an online profile.
“I knew coming into this program that I wanted to help people,” she is quoted as saying in the profile. “I wanted to work with marginalized communities, people dealing with mental health issues, low income, people of color, and I think this is a good start in terms of my career. I just think it’s really important to help people improve the quality of their lives.”
Her internship opened the door for a job within the extension’s Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps people heat and winterize their homes.
She also contributed to the Healthy Neighborhoods Program, a state initiative that focuses on visiting the homes of at-risk New Yorkers and scanning for environmental health hazards.
“Now, more than ever, is the time to start in a field like this,” said Dukes. “We really need people out there helping the community.”
Lopez was slapped with a laundry list of charges, including reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an incident with serious injury, second-degree vehicular assault, unlawfully fleeing a police officer, obstructing governmental administration, reckless driving, driving while under the influence of alcohol and refusal to take a breath test, police said.
Lopez, who was also hospitalized in stable condition, additionally received a violation for disobeying the red light, cops said.
The 34-year-old woman behind the wheel of the Honda, who had a green light, was not hurt – and neither was a 31-year-old woman or 30-year-old man also riding in the car, according to police.
The exact relationship between the passengers was unclear Tuesday.
