An ex-FDNY firefighter-turned-OnlyFans mannequin was thrown behind bars Thursday for allegedly drunkenly mowing down a younger airport employee in Queens — a shock transfer that drew raucous cheers and applause from the sufferer’s household in court docket.
“Put the cuffs on him!” somebody shouted from the gallery of Queens Supreme Courtroom as Michael Pena had his bail revoked within the February wreck that killed Justin Cruz, 23.
Greater than 50 folks from Cruz’s facet crowded the courtroom to look at as Pena — who moonlit as a hunky OnlyFans mannequin — was slapped with a 14-count indictment, together with manslaughter prices, for the Feb. 26 crash.
The beefy 28-year-old disgraced probationary smoke eater was dashing 83 mph in a 25 mph zone in his silver Mercedes S63 Coupe when he blew by way of a purple mild and struck Cruz’s car, the Queens District Legal professional’s Workplace stated.
Prosecutors stated Pena, who was fired from the FDNY final month, had been bar-hopping for hours earlier than the lethal crash and had a lot booze, cocaine and marijuana in his system that his blood-alcohol stage was effectively above the authorized restrict 5 hours after the wreck.
“I ran the sunshine. I hit him,” Pena allegedly informed cops on the scene, Queens Assistant District Legal professional Vivian Gonzalez stated in court docket. “I’m a firefighter. I T-boned him. The automobile is registered to me. The reg expired in January… It’s an important automobile.”
Prosecutors stated the lethal crash was caught on a number of surveillance cameras and dashcam.
Pena — who was dressed to the nines in a charcoal grey swimsuit, crisp white shirt and gold tie — had been free on bail, which was set at $50,000 in money or a $100,000 bond after his arrest.
Prosecutors, nonetheless, argued on Thursday that Pena was a flight danger as a result of he confronted 15 years in jail, if convicted.
His legal professional, Marvin Kornberg, tried in useless to maintain his consumer out of the clink.
“He has ties to the group,” Kornberg informed Decide Michael Hartofilis. “There’s completely no want to alter the bail. He misplaced his job. That’s the one factor that modified.”
However Hartofolis sided with prosecutors — inflicting the courtroom gallery to burst into applause and cheers — as a surprised Pena seemed in disbelief.
“This was a heinous crime,” Diaz’s older brother, Franklin Diaz Jr., informed reporters exterior the courtroom. “The medicine, the alcohol, the pace, at what level do the brand new bail legal guidelines consider such heinous disregard for human life? He has no regard.
“It was throughout his arraignment, he got here out with a smirk on his face,” he added. “He tried to make use of his firefighter standing to reduce what he did to my brother.”
Diaz was driving to work northbound on 107th Road shortly after 4 a.m. when Pena allegedly gunned the engine on his Mercedes S63 — which might run as a lot as $135,000 — blowing by way of a purple mild and slamming into Diaz’s automobile, killing the LaGuardia Airport employee, prosecutors stated.
The sufferer had simply graduated from faculty with a level in aeronautics and was finding out to be an airplane mechanic, his brother beforehand stated.
Pena already had “a number of arrests,” together with a Queens, Nassau County and New Jersey — for flashing a phony ID — and a string of site visitors violations, together with 25 for dashing between 2023 and this 12 months, in keeping with the DA’s workplace.
He ran an OnlyFans account underneath the deal with “I’m Mike LV” and incessantly posted shirtless pictures of his chiseled abs and arms, charging extra for “personal content material.”
“Feelin actual contemporary received some new content material for y’all; message me to unlock the products,” Pena posted on July 31, 2023. A photograph posted on Nov. 19, 2022, will get precariously near displaying his privates as he flexes in a mirror whereas carrying a white towel on his decrease half.
Exterior the courtroom Thursday, Diaz’s father slammed Pena’s “depravity.”
“My son Justin will now not have a future,” grieving dad Franklin Diaz stated. “His future was simply beginning. His profession was simply beginning to excel. He had simply completed college. Justin was work, dwelling, college.
“Justin had a future and that was stolen,” the elder Diaz stated. “Snatched by Michael Pena.”
