New York driver killed 71-year-old grandmother in car chase – police arrest him after two months on the run

A driver who killed a 71-year-old grandmother and injured her daughter during a police chase was arrested this week after two months on the run, police said Tuesday.

Robert Matthews, 35, was arrested on a warrant Monday morning. He faces a total of 18 charges, including manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, in connection with the May 9 car crash in Bushwick that killed Juanita Vidal, police said.

Vidal was walking with her 44-year-old daughter Jessica at the corner of Eldert Street and Knickerbocker Avenue around 5 p.m. when Matthews drove into them in his speeding Mazda CX-5 SUV, authorities said.

Heartbreaking footage from the crime scene shows Jessica kneeling next to her mother and crying while a police officer unsuccessfully attempts to perform CPR.

Vidal was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center but later succumbed to her injuries, police said.

Jessica was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center where she was listed in critical but stable condition.

Surveillance footage obtained by The Post shows the SUV – which sources say was being pursued by police for a traffic violation – speeding eastbound on Eldert Street through the intersection and nearly colliding with a red car traveling on Knickerbocker Street as a police car drives behind it.

Police confirmed that the driver ignored two stop signs and swerved to the left to avoid a collision with another car before hitting the mother and daughter.

He then crashed into a Chevy van, and the force pushed the van into a Honda, police said.

Matthews ran north on foot onto Eldert Street, police said.

He was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday and remanded in custody without bail. His next court date is scheduled for September 18.

Friends had previously told The Post that Vidal had three children in New York and others in her native Puerto Rico and in Boston.

She had at least ten grandchildren – four from her daughter and six from her two sons.

“I feel bad. Everyone is sad,” said his friend George Alvarez, 65.

“When I saw the video, I saw the way (the suspect) was driving, he was a maniac. At the speed he was driving, the daughter is lucky to be alive.”

“She was a healthy woman,” Alvarez added of Vidal. “He cut her life short and I’m angry because she was my friend.”

Additional reporting by Desheania Andrews