Widow of Roberto Velez-Alvarez, killed in East Side road rage incident, speaks out: "The man they are describing is not my husband"
NEW YORK - Andre Mosby, the man arrested after a fatal road rage incident in Manhattan, is expected in court Thursday.
Police said it all happened on the East Side after a minor fender-bender.
CBS New York's Alice Gainer sat down with the family of 54-year-old Roberto Velez Alvarez, who was killed. They are devastated, and confused.
"I don't know what could've sparked this," son Steven Velez-Garcia said.
"We're not exaggerating. This is so unlike him," nephew Raul Perez Garcia said.
Police sources said Wednesday afternoon on 60th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, a sedan driven by Mosby, 26, rear-ended Alvarez's pickup truck in slow-moving traffic. As they maneuvered their cars, they sideswiped each other, knocking a mirror off the sedan.
Police sources said Velez-Alvarez is seen on video leaning down on the driver's side tire of the sedan. He slashed the tires with a knife.
Mosby's girlfriend, who was in the sedan with three children, got out to confront Velez-Alvarez. Mosby is then seen on video accelerating rapidly, striking Velez-Alvarez, pinning him against the façade of a café.
Velez-Alvarez was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
"The man that they are describing is not my husband," Ales Garcia, Velez-Alvarez's wife, said.
Garcia said her husband, a construction supervisor, was on his way to pick her up from work nearby. Neither she nor their son or nephew said they knew he had a knife.
"Maybe a little Swiss army knife, because I know he liked fruit, so he would sometimes peel fruit in his car," Velez-Garcia said.
Mosby, who is charged with manslaughter and assault, told police he was defending himself and worried for the safety of his girlfriend and children in the car.
"My dad would never want a family without a father," Velez-Garcia said. "He's never acted that way. It's never been something that he's been like. He was always a very generous person, very kind. He always wanted to make people smile, happy."
"He was a really great husband, really great father," Ales Garcia said.
Velez-Garcia, 25, had this advice for other drivers who find themselves in a similar situation.
"As long as you're safe and good, just move on," he said.
CBS New York has reached out to Mosby's girlfriend, but have not heard back.
Mosby has two prior arrests for fare evasion and robbery.