A hit-and-run driver was arrested Guyana nearly five years after he fatally ran down a Queens father of four on Christmas Day 2019, police said.
US Marshals on Thursday handcuffed 26-year-old Ravindra Dharamjit in the South American country, where he fled to avoid justice for the death of Ainsley Dalrymple, 67, with a borrowed truck.
Dharamjit was extradited to New York on Friday.
The suspect had left a house party and was on his way to Resorts World Casino with two passengers in a borrowed 2012 Toyota Tundra pickup when he hit Dalrymple as he crossed Rockaway Blvd. at 114th St. in Ozone Park around 9:30 p.m
Dalrymple had just parked his car and was crossing the street when he was hit.
Police said the Tundra was traveling on the wrong side of the road at at least 74 mph in a 25 mph zone just before the crash. When the Tundra hit Dalrymple, it was going at least 66 mph, police sources with knowledge of the case said.
The impact sent Dalrymple – who was crossing on the north side of the boulevard outside the crosswalk – flying into the air. He landed 157 feet from where he was hit, police said.
Afterwards, Dharamjit dropped off the borrowed vehicle with its owner and explained that he had crashed the vehicle and offered to fix it at a later date, sources said.
But the truck’s owner would not see Dharamjit again — he fled to Georgetown, Guyana on Jan. 9 in an attempt to avoid justice, authorities said.
Dalrymple was a father of four and had seven grandchildren, according to ABC7.
“Very hard working man,” his son Ainsley Dalrymple Jr. said. to ABC. “I learned a lot from him. That’s the one thing … just work hard because that’s what he was, every day. It didn’t matter the weather, he went to work. He was just a very dedicated family man.”