Gerritsen Beach Man Killed, Bensonhurst Man Arrested After Hit-And-Run Accident


by on Jun 30th, 2014
Loughran (Source: Facebook)

Loughran (Source: Facebook)

Bryan Loughran, 32, died early Saturday morning after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on Gerritsen Avenue in Gerritsen Beach.

Police rushed to the scene at 2:45 a.m., outside of Gather Inn Again (2718 Gerritsen Avenue, near Everett Avenue), where they found Loughran with severe trauma to his body. EMS took him to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Cops determined that Loughran had left the bar and was crossing the street when a white minivan traveling southbound struck him before speeding off. The Daily News notes that Loughran was thrown several yards, and the impact smashed the vehicles windshield and ripped out its headlight.

Authorities tracked down the driver, Michael Casale, 51, and cuffed him at approximately 5:00 a.m. He had ditched the car a few blocks away on Frank Court near Cyrus Avenue. Casale lives on 13th Avenue in Bensonhurst, where cops made the arrest.

Casale is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle. His prior rap sheet dates back to 1984, with arrests for drug possession, robbery, impersonating a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon.

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  • joe

    isn’t 13th ave considered Dyker Heights and not Bensonhurst?

    • Tricia

      Does it really matter?

      • joe

        just curious. All my friends living on 13th ave always referred to the neighborhood as Dyker Heights, not Bensonhurst

  • Khs 99

    I went to hs with him. Heard he had passed but no idea this is what happened. This is horrible ! So glad they caught the animal who did this.

    • Alex

      This kind of animal shouldn’t be living on this earth. All they do is bring violence and death into this world.
      These savages need to be put to sleep forever.

  • Mac

    Just keep letting these great citizens out of jail
    How about a pic of this wonderful, law abiding citizen

  • HadEnough

    Had he stayed, “no charges were filed” would have been the last line of the article

    • Guest

      Why is that necessarily a bad thing? Are there really no circumstances where a pedestrian could be hit and the driver shouldn’t be destroyed for it?

      • Andrew

        If the driver did nothing wrong, then of course no charges should be filed against the driver.

        But as long as the driver remains at the scene and isn’t drunk, the police almost always automatically and immediately absolve him of any possible responsibility, even when it’s plainly obvious that the driver caused the crash by breaking the law. Until recently, “No criminality is suspected” is how most articles ended. Now they often add that the investigation is still under way, but in practice there does not appear to be any semblance of an investigation.

        Just this morning, a driver struck and injured an 83-year-old woman crossing the street in the crosswalk with the light, and the article ends, “Police are still investigating the crash, but do not believe there is any criminality.”

        And last week, an off-duty police officer struck and injured 5-year-old Chunli Mendoza and her mother, who were crossing in the crosswalk with the light. Yet “Criminality is not suspected” and the driver “was not issued any summonses.”

        The law unambiguously states that “vehicular traffic, including vehicles turning right or left, shall yield the right of way to other vehicles and to pedestrians lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk at the time such signal is exhibited,” and that “Vehicular traffic shall yield the right of way to such pedestrians [crossing with the walk signal or flashing don’t walk signal].”

        I object to the notion that all drivers are guilty, but I also object to the notion that all drivers are innocent, especially when it’s patently obvious that they’re not.

        • Andrew

          And in our case, according to the Daily News article, the driver was “speeding” and “veered across the yellow lines” before striking and killing the victim. Had the driver then stopped and remained at the scene, do you think charges should have been filed?

          • Guest

            This guy needs to be locked away!!!! He should have seen my
            friend crossing the street!!! And the driver already has a record!! I hope this guy rots away!!!!