AG Letitia James won’t seek criminal charges against cop who fatally ran over sleeping man in Queens park during U.S. Open
Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that her office would not seek criminal charges against the cop who drove over and killed a man lying in Queens’ Flushing Meadows Corona Park during last summer’s U.S. Open tennis tournament.
According to James, her office performed an extensive and comprehensive investigation into the death of Erasmo Huerta Gonzalez on Aug. 23, 2025, which included a review of body-worn camera footage and cell phone data, interviews with an involved officer and witnesses, and a comprehensive legal analysis. In the end, the investigation determined that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the involved officer committed a crime.
The conclusion announced on April 14 appeared to contradict eyewitness accounts which charged that the death was entirely preventable.
The incident unfolded around 4:37 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2025, on a stretch of road in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. United Nations Avenue South was closed to all non-law-enforcement or parks staff vehicles during the U.S. Open when a female police officer driving a cruiser drove over Gonzalez. He had been lying on the roadway sleeping when he was struck, although the exact reason why remains unclear.
EMS rushed him to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, where he was pronounced dead.
“I was literally there when this happened, and I still can’t believe it. My friend told a cop to check on the guy laying (sic) in the middle of the road (roads were closed for the US Open), and we also told 2 other ‘officials’ who passed by. They just took pictures and kept it moving,” an eyewitness wrote on a Reddit post not long after the death. “Not even 3 minutes later, the cop car [came] out of nowhere. The lady driving wasn’t even paying attention — my sister had to scream at her to stop moving. She didn’t even realize she ran over something until she got out and looked under her car.”
Gonzalez was of Mexican descent and a father. His body was returned to Mexico, according to a GoFundMe account made in his honor.
The Attorney General’s Office stated that: “Evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer’s conduct was a gross deviation from the standard that would have been observed by a reasonable person in the same circumstances. Therefore, OSI concluded that there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.”
