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Feb. 17, 2021 By Christian Murray
A car wash employee who allegedly drove drunk and killed a woman while the victim was getting her car cleaned in Ozone Park Monday faces up to seven years in prison, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Edwin Vargas, 43, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving for allegedly driving a car into a woman while intoxicated at the car wash.
According to the charges, Vargas, of 102nd Street in Richmond Hill, struck Tracy McManus, 54, who was at the Crossbay Car Wash on Cross Bay Boulevard at around 2 p.m. He plowed into her while he was driving another customer’s vehicle from the washing rack onto an adjacent lot where his fellow employees were hand-drying the cars.
Vargas hit McManus while she was walking to her car after tipping other workers. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead.
Police took Vargas to the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills where he was breath tested. The sample showed that he had a blood alcohol content of .115, above the legal limit of .08.
“If you have a job that requires you to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, coming to work intoxicated is selfish and dangerous,” said Melinda Katz, Queens District Attorney. “This is a heart-breaking, senseless tragedy of a woman who just wanted to get her car washed.”
