A man who told police he was driving for Lyft was arrested Saturday on Long Island, New York, after a check of his driver’s license revealed it had been suspended 17 times, NBC News reports. Leith Crossen, 57, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was in a Volkswagen Jetta near Cold Spring Harbor train station when an officer responding to a 911 call of a possible intoxicated driver found him stopped in the car at about 9:35 p.m., Suffolk County police said. Crossen was not intoxicated and had run out of gas after dropping off a passenger, police said. A check of his driver’s license showed it had been suspended 17 times, according to police. Crossen was charged with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a felony. Lyft told NBC News on Sunday that Crossen was not dropping off a Lyft passenger before his arrest and that he passed a background and Department of Motor Vehicle check in March. “The driver’s license this individual provided when applying to drive with Lyft did not show any disqualifying driving records,” a spokeswoman said. “He has not driven on the Lyft platform since April and is permanently banned from driving with Lyft.”
What to Know
- Vanessa Marcotte, a Google employee who lived in New York City, was killed while running near her family's home in Princeton, Massachusetts.
- Authorities are looking for a dark SUV that had been parked on the road where Marcotte was last seen around the time of her death Aug. 7.
- Marcotte's slaying came five days after the killing of Karina Vetrano, a Queens woman who was found dead in a marsh after going for a run.
Authorities say they're seeking a dark SUV in connection with the slaying of a New York City woman who was killed while she was jogging in Massachusetts this summer.
The Worcester County District Attorney's Office said witnesses have told detectives about a dark SUV that had been parked on Brooks Station Road in Princeton around the time of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte's death on Aug. 7.
The former Google employee's body was found in the woods off of the road, not far from her family's home.
Marcotte had been out for a run that afternoon and was reported missing when she didn't return.
Authorities say state police detectives and local police have already received more than 1,000 tips through a dedicated tip line.
Ray Leroux, who lives next door to Marcotte's mom, said police revisted homes on Tuesday night.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
"They just stopped by. They were going over all the evidence and interviewing all the neighbors," Leroux recalled. "They just asked whether we had seen anything that particular day, anything strange different, which we didn't."
Leroux said investigators took DNA from all the neighbors in the days following Marcotte's murder.
"They came to the house and took a sample of saliva, stuff like that, tried to rule out as much as they could I guess," he said.
Residents are hoping the new lead will shed some light on the unsolved case.
"I think it gives the town some hope that they're getting closer to finding someone," said Katherine Huck, who works at Mountainside Market. "Any leads are good, and I think it predicts some progress towards a finish."
Marcotte's death came five days after a similar killing in New York City. Karina Vetrano was running near her home in Howard Beach, Queens, when she was sexually assaulted, strangled and left for dead in a marshy area off a trail at Gateway National Recreation Area.
No arrests have been made in Vetrano's death, but her family has raised more than $285,000 for a reward leading to an arrest in the case.
Anyone with information regarding men who had access to a dark-colored SUV on Aug. 7 and were in or around Princeton is asked to call 508-453-7589.
