via GoFundMe page
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A beloved Upper East Side doorman was killed last week when an off-duty NYPD sergeant allegedly driving the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway struck his vehicle head-on, according to authorities.
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Manuel Boitel, a longtime doorman at a condominium building at 340 East 64th Street, was driving home to Peekskill, New York, when the crash occurred at approximately 11:39 p.m. on January 22 near mile marker 3.7, according to the New York Attorney General’s Office. Boitel was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight on January 23. He was 61.The driver who struck Boitel was Tiffany Howell, 47, of Warwick, New York, an off-duty NYPD sergeant who was allegedly driving south in the northbound lane when her 2021 Infiniti collided with Boitel’s 2024 Toyota. Howell was transported to Westchester Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation announced Sunday that it has opened an investigation into the death.
Boitel’s two adult sons learned of the crash after their mother noticed their father’s GPS tracker had shown the same location on the Taconic for over an hour. Eric Boitel woke his brother Marvin, and the two drove to the scene in Mount Pleasant in the early morning hours.
Boitel had worked at 340 East 64th Street for three decades and was a member of 32BJ SEIU, Our Town reported.
“We have been deeply saddened to learn about the passing of our union brother Manuel Boitel,” said Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU. “Manuel put more than 30 years of service into making his condo building home, and he was taken just shy of enjoying the retirement he deserved.”
A GoFundMe campaign launched by a family member has raised more than $55,000 of a $65,000 goal as of this writing. The organizer, who identified herself as Boitel’s niece, described him as “a truly caring and selfless man” who “was always the first to help others, often putting the needs of those around him before his own.”
“The irony is that he regularly donated to funds supporting police officers, as he always dreamed of becoming one himself,” she wrote.
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Boitel and his wife had been married for 42 years and emigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. According to the GoFundMe page, he was the primary provider for the household, and his family now faces the challenge of covering funeral expenses and other bills.Howell, who joined the NYPD in 2008, has been placed on modified duty and stripped of her firearms and badge pending the investigation, according to Our Town. No arrests had been made as of press time.
New York State Police are asking any witnesses to call 914-742-6057 with tips.
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