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Off-duty NYC officer arrested after SUV strikes pedestrians, 1 dead

The 21-year-old man who died was among a group of friends walking along a residential street when the officer, identified as Nicholas Batka, erratically drove down the street and hit the victims, according to a police complaint.

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A fourth victim, a 23-year-old woman, suffered severe trauma to both legs and her right arm, but was in stable condition, police said.

One pedestrian was killed and three others were seriously injured when they were struck by a vehicle driven by an off-duty NYPD officer who was allegedly intoxicated.

Esquivel was working as a software engineering intern in NY over the summer when he was hit in Williamsburg on Saturday and taken to the hospital where he later died. Two are in serious condition, police said.

A tragic scene occurred in New York City Saturday, after an MIT student was killed when an SUV flew off the road.

Batka, who was also taken to Cornell in stable condition, joined the NYPD in January 2015 and worked for the Manhattan Transit Task Force, according to the New York Daily News.

“He was just an outstanding person”, Weidemier told the paper.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Wolk asked for bail to be set at $1million arguing that Batka had tried to flee, but defense lawyer Jeff Grodon said Batka was in the midsts of trying to adopt his 15-year-old niece after his brother died.

The NYPD said Batka was arrested after he refused to take a breath-analysis test. Batka appeared to be under the influence, police said.

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Batka has since been suspended by the NYPD. The Healdsburg Tribune reported in 2013 that he had received a full ride scholarship to the school from the James Family Foundation and wanted to study computer science and aerospace engineering.

Esquivel was an Eagle Scout who created his own app as a high school student in Healdsburg California. He died after he was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan