Drunk driver gets 24 years to life in prison for killing 4 people at July 4 barbecue in NYC park

NEW YORK (AP) — Halena Herrera can’t cross a street without thinking about the pickup truck that barreled toward her, killing her best friend and three other people, at a New York City park two Fourth of Julys ago.

Daniel Hyden was drunk at the wheel as the Ford F-150 jumped a curb, bulldozed a chain-link fence and plowed into a group of friends and relatives who were holding a holiday barbecue at Corlears Hook Park in Manhattan. The truck stopped just feet from Herrera, its momentum halted by bodies trapped underneath.

Judge April A. Newbauer sentenced Hyden on Friday to 24 years to life in prison in the deaths of Ana Morel, 43; Lucille Pinkney, 59; her son, Herman Pinkney, 38; and Herrera’s best friend, Emily Ruiz, 30.

Seven people were hurt, including Herrera, who was hit in the face by debris.

“Learning that the only reason I lived was because four other people were dying under the car is still very hard to deal with,” Herrera told reporters after Hyden’s sentencing in state court in Manhattan.

“I'm glad that at least now there's some sense of justice," she said. "It doesn't help much. It doesn't bring anything back, but it's good to have it over with, so I'm happy for that.”

Diamond Pinkney, Lucille’s son and Herman’s brother, said seeing Hyden sentenced was a “big relief." The driver, a substance abuse counselor who wrote a 2020 book about coping with addiction, “knew what he did, he knew the possibility he could’ve caused and he did it,” Pinkney said.

Hyden, 46, from Monmouth, New Jersey, described it as an “accident” in his courtroom apology. He was convicted in November at a non-jury trial of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges.

“I’m processing how deeply disturbed and deeply hurt I was and still am. And I’m still processing the amount of people I hurt with my actions," he said, standing in a room packed with victims, relatives of the people he killed and about two-dozen officers.

Hyden said he had broken his sobriety after his own sister was killed by a drunk driver in New Jersey in 2021. At the time of his crash in July 2024, he was preparing to speak at that driver’s sentencing, he said.

“What kind of human being would put other human beings through the same thing he was going through?" Hyden asked.

Herrera scoffed at Hyden’s newfound shame, telling reporters afterward: “He has shown no remorse from the very beginning, so for him to sit there and say that he’s sorry is just — I don’t believe any of it.”

The crash happened less than an hour after Hyden was refused entry to a nearby party boat and clashed with security. Police officers who responded to the boat incident testified that they didn’t witness anything warranting arrest, so they walked Hyden to a park bench and left.

He then got behind the wheel of the pickup truck, prosecutors said, accelerating through a stop sign at 39 mph (63 kph), speeding through a construction zone and zooming over sidewalk at up to 54 mph (87 kph) before reaching the park.

Hyden was pressing the gas pedal down fully and didn’t hit the brakes until half a second before he hit the crowd, prosecutors said. He then tried to put the vehicle in reverse, but witnesses pulled the keys from the ignition to stop him.

Hyden’s lawyer suggested he had a foot injury that complicated his driving.

“While this prison sentence will not reverse the fatalities, injuries, and trauma, I hope this sentencing brings a measure of comfort for those who were impacted by this mass casualty event," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. "If you are intoxicated, do not get behind the wheel — it risks the lives of others, and you will be prosecuted.”

Herrera and Pinkney both said they want Hyden to remain in prison for the rest of his life so he does not have a chance to hurt anyone else.

Herrera, who is studying to be a therapist, said she has had bouts of depression and struggles with post-traumatic stress — the horror of that night infecting her daily activities. But, she said, she has to stay strong for her 7-year-old son.

“Every day, I'm worried that something else can happen,” Herrera said. “You know of it — you know that death happens, you know that accidents happen and things happen. But to live it is a different thing."

"So, now it's like: Am I going to get hit by a car crossing the street? Is something going to happen to me?”

Halena Herrera speaks to reporters, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 in New York, after the sentencing of Daniel Hyden, a drunk driver who killed four people, including her best friend, when he plowed his pickup truck into a crowd at a New York City park on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)

Diamond Pinkney speaks to reporters, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 in New York, after the sentencing of Daniel Hyden, a drunk driver who killed four people, including her best friend, when he plowed his pickup truck into a crowd at a New York City park on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)

Halena Herrera speaks to reporters, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 in New York, after the sentencing of Daniel Hyden, a drunk driver who killed four people, including her best friend, when he plowed his pickup truck into a crowd at a New York City park on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)

Relatives of Lucille Pinkney and her son, Herman Pinkney, speak to reporters, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 in New York, after the sentencing of Daniel Hyden, a drunk driver who killed four people, including her best friend, when he plowed his pickup truck into a crowd at a New York City park on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)

DALLAS (AP) — The mess in Texas may be just beginning.

Four-term Sen. John Cornyn and his allies spent nearly $70 million to survive the first round of the party’s nomination fight on Tuesday. He was slightly ahead of conservative firebrand Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, with more votes still being counted on Wednesday.

Both now advance to a May 26 runoff election that Republicans fear could be even uglier and more expensive than the first contest.

“It's judgment day for Ken Paxton,” Cornyn said on Tuesday night.

But whether any level of attacks can stop Paxton — who has long been shadowed by allegations of corruption and infidelity — remains unclear, especially as he fashions himself as the kind of Make America Great Again warrior President Donald Trump needs in Washington.

Paxton was defiant when speaking to a few hundred supporters at a Dallas hotel ballroom, a far different scene than Cornyn's small press conference.

“We just sent a message, loud and clear, to Washington,” he said. “We are not going to go quietly, and we are not going to let you buy the seat.”

Republicans are sweating the runoff because the 83-day sprint takes place as operatives in both major political parties acknowledge that Democrats have an unusually solid chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas this year, something that hasn't happened in nearly four decades.

Democrats nominated state Rep. James Talarico, who Republicans immediately attacked as a far-left extremist — even though they privately consider the 36-year-old Christian progressive to be a stronger general election candidate than his primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

The Texas contest is playing out as Trump fights to maintain control of Congress for his final two years in the White House. Republicans are more confident about keeping their majority in the Senate than the House, but a competitive race in Texas could scramble the map, or at least consume resources that the party needs in more competitive states like North Carolina, Maine, Ohio and Alaska.

Republican leaders in Washington insist that Cornyn has the best shot, especially after he finished ahead of Paxton in Tuesday's primary, with U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt finishing a distant third and conceding. Cornyn's campaign argued that a runoff wouldn't even be necessary if it wasn't for “Wesley Hunt's vanity campaign.”

“Paxton’s problems aren’t just an issue in a Republican primary; they also threaten to put the Senate seat at risk due to his lack of strength against Democrat nominee Talarico," a memo from Cornyn's team said.

But Paxton and his allies are showing no signs of backing down.

“The D.C. establishment has done its job: it rallied around its wounded incumbent, opened the fundraising spigot, and flooded the airwaves. But the results, the data, and the reality on the ground all point to the same conclusion: John Cornyn has no viable path to the Republican nomination,” the pro-Paxton Lone Star PAC wrote in a memo. “Cornyn should suspend his campaign, concede the nomination to Ken Paxton, and refuse to allow another $100+ million in Republican resources to be burned in a race that is already decided.”

The only person who might be able to forestall the intraparty fight, or at least limit its fallout, is Trump. But the president has declined to endorse a candidate in the primary, describing all of them as “great,” and it was unclear if anything would change in the runoff.

Without Trump's support, Cornyn made it clear that he would make the case himself. He told reporters that Paxton would be “a dead weight at the top of the ticket for Republicans" in November.

“I’ve worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally,” Cornyn said. “I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years.”

Cornyn will face intense fundraising pressure, having already spent so much money in the first round of the primary. Aides said he had some small fundraisers planned but nothing in the days immediately after this week's vote as he returns to Washington.

In addition, Paxton's allies are confident that the political landscape will tilt in the attorney general's favor.

“The casual and moderate Republican voters who are most likely to support an establishment incumbent are the least likely to return for a runoff,” said the memo from the Lone Star PAC. “The committed conservative activists who form Paxton’s base are the most likely to show up.”

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2026 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/elections.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Myer)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Myer)