MINEOLA, N.Y. — A New Hyde Park man pleaded guilty September 11 to manslaughter and other charges after driving drunk, fatally striking a woman walking to a bus stop in Lake Success and leaving the scene, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced.
Rajvir Bharaj, 34, entered the plea before Judge Helene Gugerty in the death of Lidia Rivera, 61. He is expected to be sentenced to four to 12 years in prison when he returns to court November 13, 2026.
Rivera was heading home from her custodial job
Rivera had finished her shift as a custodian at a Northwell Health facility and was walking to a bus stop around 10:30 p.m. June 6, 2025, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. As she crossed Lakeville Road in Lake Success, Bharaj struck her while driving a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck southbound at a high rate of speed.
The impact threw Rivera into the glass bus shelter, shattering it. She suffered catastrophic injuries, including a skull fracture and the severing of her brain stem from her spinal cord.
Rivera was taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 11:04 p.m.
Driver texted NYPD officer friend, “should I leave?”
Bharaj drove away without calling 911, prosecutors said. He stopped about half a mile from the crash, repeatedly called a friend who is a New York City police officer and texted that friend, “should I leave?”
Nearly 15 minutes after emergency services responded, Bharaj walked back to the crash site. Officers from the Nassau County Police Department’s Third Precinct arrested him there June 7.
Investigators determined that Bharaj had consumed four alcoholic drinks and three shots of liquor at a Freeport bar in less than three hours. Before entering the bar, he also shared a bottle of tequila with friends that he had purchased at a nearby liquor store.
A blood sample taken approximately five hours after the crash showed a blood alcohol concentration of .12%, prosecutors said. That remained above New York’s .08% threshold for driving while intoxicated, as outlined by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Guilty plea includes manslaughter and leaving the scene
Bharaj pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony; second-degree assault, a Class C violent felony; leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death, a Class D felony; and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.
“This horrific crash and loss of life could have easily been prevented if the defendant had used his common sense and did not drink and drive,” Donnelly said.
In a separate Long Island prosecution, SNN previously reported on a Hauppauge driver sentenced for a DWI crash that killed Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Espinosa.
Senior Assistant District Attorney James Taglienti and Deputy Bureau Chief Tara DePalo are prosecuting Bharaj’s case through the Vehicular Crimes Bureau, under Bureau Chief Michael Bushwack and Executive Assistant District Attorney Daryl Levy. Bharaj is represented by attorney Marc Gann.