A 34-year-old North New Hyde Park man has pleaded guilty to killing a 61-year-old Northwell Health custodian in a drunken hit-and-run near a Lake Success bus stop, then fleeing the scene, parking about a quarter mile away, and calling a police officer friend before deciding to walk back roughly 15 minutes after first responders arrived.
Rajvir Bharaj admitted to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, leaving the scene of a deadly accident, and driving while intoxicated in the death of Lidia Rivera, according to Daily Voice. Rivera, a 61-year-old Hempstead resident, had just finished her overnight shift as a custodian at a Northwell Health facility and was walking toward a Nassau Inter-County Express bus stop near 430 Lakeville Road in the Incorporated Village of Lake Success when Bharaj struck her, according to Newsday.
A Bus Stop Shattered by the Force of the Impact
The collision was violent enough to throw Rivera into the glass bus shelter, shattering it and causing fatal injuries, according to a September 14 report on the case. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital, per the same account. Rivera had walked to the bus stop around 10:30 p.m. after finishing her shift on June 6, 2025, and was crossing the roadway when Bharaj, driving a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado southbound on Lakeville Road, hit her.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Bharaj ran while Rivera lay dying on the pavement. The crash site was near 430 Lakeville Road, according to Long Island Life & Politics — a detail that underscores the risks faced by night-shift hospital workers commuting home. A separate wrong-way crash on the Northern State Parkway killed one person and injured another on September 7, 2026, as Hoodline previously reported.
Drinks, a Getaway, and a Call to an Officer Friend
Investigators say that before the crash, Bharaj had consumed four cocktails and three shots at a Freeport bar and had also consumed tequila. His alcohol level was measured at 0.12% five hours after the crash, investigators said, while an initial roadside breath test had indicated a reading of 0.15%, according to charging documents filed by the Nassau County Police Department in June 2025 and cited by the same outlet. New York's legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.08%.
After fleeing, Bharaj parked roughly a quarter mile from the scene and repeatedly called a friend who is an active New York City police officer, the outlet's report states, before sending a text message asking, “should I leave?” He ultimately returned to the crash site on foot about 15 minutes after first responders had arrived, and was eventually arrested near the scene.
Bail, Charges and a Coming Sentencing Date
Bharaj was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead following his June 2025 arrest and held on $75,000 cash bail while represented by Garden City defense attorney John Salvatore Campo, Newsday reported at the time. He initially pleaded not guilty before entering his guilty plea on September 11, 2026.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office reported that Bharaj now faces four to 12 years in prison. The range is four to 12 years in prison. Bharaj's sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 13, 2026.
