Man Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter Hours Before Trial Begins

A Queens man pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the day his trial was scheduled to begin for a fatal hit-and-run in Franklin Square last year where he struck and killed a taxi driver.

Duke Obule, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death, leaving the scene of an incident resulting in physical injury, third-degree assault and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He could face 15 years in prison for the manslaughter charge.

“Paul Mitacek was a hardworking father driving a taxi on Hempstead Turnpike when he was struck and killed by this grossly reckless defendant,” said District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Duke Obule’s outrageous conduct, driving his BMW at more than 100 miles per hour, cost an innocent man his life, which is why we charged the highest felony the law allows. I hope that this defendant’s admission of guilt and top-count plea offers some measure of comfort to Mr. Mitacek’s family.”

At 4:16 a.m. on April 23, 2016, Obule was driving eastbound on Hempstead Turnpike at speeds up to 105 MPH, in a 2016 BMW, with a 20-year old female passenger in the front seat. His license was suspended and he had been advised that he could not drive just two weeks earlier.

Obule was traveling from a hookah lounge in Farmingdale prior to crashing into the victim’s 2009 Chevrolet Impala taxi cab. The impact, which was caught on surveillance video, pushed the taxi into a telephone pole on the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Lincoln Road in Franklin Square. The taxi nearly wrapped around the pole, and the victim, Paul Mitacek, 47, from Elmont, died in the car. Mitacek was the father of three children between the ages of 7 and 12 and was working as a taxi driver for a local cab company at the time of the crash.

After the crash, the defendant exited the car and ran from the scene, abandoning his passenger, who was not able to move because of her injuries. The passenger was carried to a bench by witnesses and later taken to the hospital with a broken ankle. Obule was found near the scene less than an hour later and was carrying the key to the BMW.

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