Philadelphia

Video Shows 3 Men Carry Hit-and-Run Driver Away From Crash That Killed Philly Couple, Police Say

NBC10 obtained video showing the aftermath of the crash.

What to Know

  • NBC10 obtained video of the aftermath of a hit-and-run crash that killed Carmen Ruiz, 48, and her husband, Juan Lopez Rivera, 50.
  • Shekhroz Mamaatkulov, 25, of Warrington, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged in the hit-and-run.
  • The video shows three men carrying a man, who police believe is Mamaatkulov, away from the scene of the crash.

More than two weeks after a chain reaction crash killed a Philadelphia husband and wife, video has surfaced showing three men carrying the likely hit-and-run driver away from the scene.

On April 20, shortly before midnight, Carmen Ruiz, 48, and her husband, Juan Lopez Rivera, 50, were inside a 2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor traveling on Bustleton Avenue and Red Lion Road.

Police said Shekhroz Mamaatkulov, 25, of Warrington, Pennsylvania, was driving a 2019 Chevy Camaro down Bustleton Avenue at a high speed at the same time and crashed into a 2010 Lexus that was stopped at a red light. Mamaatkulov tried to speed away but then collided with the couple’s Endeavor, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving three more vehicles, police said.

NBC10 obtained video showing the aftermath of the crash. It shows three people carrying a man, who investigators believe is Mamaatkulov, into a white Lexus which then flees the scene of the crash.

Ruiz and Rivera both died from their injuries. Five people in the other vehicles, including two children and a pregnant woman, had non-life-threatening injuries.

On Monday, Christian Garnica, a relative of the couple, watched the video of the aftermath.

"How people can see the guy just kill people and injure a lot of people and cause the accident and just take this guy off, it's amazing," Garnica said. "Evil people man."

Police identified Mamaatkulov as the hit-and-run driver and located him at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was taken into custody on April 29. He's charged with involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, and recklessly endangering another person.

"Regardless if they give this guy a hundred years or kill this guy, whatever they do to him, it's not going to bring my family back," Garnica said.

Rivera worked as a handyman for a family business. Family members showed NBC10 video of Ruiz and Rivera dancing at a relative’s birthday party hours before the deadly crash. They said they knew there was a problem when the couple didn’t return their text messages.

Ruiz and Rivera were laid to rest in Puerto Rico last week.

“They was the best,” Ruiz’s sister, Veronica Navarro, told NBC10. “They was wonderful people. Innocent.”

Juan Lopez Rivera Carmen Ruiz
(L to R) Juan Lopez Rivera, Carmen Ruiz. See full-sized image here.
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