Alice Gainer joined CBS News New York as a reporter and anchor in January 2013. She covers breaking, feature and general assignment stories.
Opening statements began Monday in the trial of Daniel Hyden, the man accused of driving drunk and mowing down four people at Corlears Hook Park on the Lower East Side on July 4, 2024.
T-shirts with the faces of the loved ones who were killed were on display from family members during what was an emotional day in court.
Prosecutors allege Hyden, who is facing multiple charges, including murder and assault, drove his pickup truck drunk and accelerated through a stop sign, eventually going through a fence and striking the crowd, killing Emily Ruiz, Lucille Pinkney, Herman Pinkney, and Ana Morel, and injuring seven others.
It's also alleged Hyden's foot was fully pressed on the gas pedal, except for half a second before the final crash when he hit the brakes. Hyden's defense attorney later argued his client was limping after injuring the foot he uses to drive in an earlier fight with boat bouncers at Pier 36.
Prosecutors played police-worn body cam footage from that incident and allege Hyden was denied entry to a party boat and subsequently got into a fight with boat security. A shirtless Hyden, with his pants undone, is seen speaking with officers as he collects his shoes. They then walk him off the pier to a nearby bench. An officer testified they had nothing to arrest Hyden for, though one officer, she said, told him he shouldn't be driving.
Those same officers would respond to the park less than 30 minutes later.
Liliana Ruiz, the mother of Emily Ruiz, testified she was returning to a barbeque in the park when she "heard a loud bang," and assumed it was fireworks, until she heard screaming.
She said she saw a truck on top of the bleachers where the group had been and said to her cousin, "Where's Emily? I don't see her."
"I thought, I'm watching my daughter die right now," she said.
Before leaving for the hospital, she said her young grandson grabbed the first aid kit for his mom and said, "I don't want my mom to die. She's a great person."
Witnesses and survivors cried on the stand. One said she did not want to look at Hyden when asked to identify him in the courtroom but did.
Outside court, relatives of the victims spoke of their losses and what it was like seeing the driver in court.
"I was staring him down in his face to let him know I'm here," Liana Lewis said.
"I love my daughter so much. I need justice for her and everybody else," added Zoila Hernandez, Morel's mother.
There is no jury. This is a bench trial, so the judge will decide.