A Brooklyn tow truck driver accused of punching a man to death during an argument over an illegally parked vehicle was released from jail this week and likely won’t face time in prison following his arraignment on a simple misdemeanor.
Kevon M. Johnson, 30, faces one charge of third-degree assault after he delivered a crushing blow to the face of Carlyle Thomas on March 17, knocking the 61-year-old Black man to the ground outside a Shell gas station, where he died after hitting his head on the pavement.
The Jamaican native was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Earlier that evening, Thomas argued with the tow driver who had hitched up Thomas’ Honda Odyssey, which had been parked in a $10 space, for which he had not paid.
After the incident, Johnson was taken into custody as a preliminary investigation determined the victim died as a result of a homicide.
However, a legal loophole in New York, known as the “one-punch homicide,” carries less severe penalties compared to charges of murder or manslaughter, and due to statewide bail reforms implemented in 2020, Johnson could not continue to be held on the misdemeanor charge.
He was granted supervised release just two days after Thomas was killed, his blood still fresh on the ground by the gas pumps down the street from his house.
“The law allows only for charges relating to the punch, and there is no way to prove intent to cause his death or any other serious injury,” according to a law enforcement source who spoke to the New York Post.
A friend of the victim who spoke to the Post mentioned that Thomas lived near the station on Clarkson Avenue near Rockaway Parkway in East Flatbush and occasionally parked his van there.
Thomas was a regular customer at the store and was even known to pitch in and help the employees unpack deliveries, family members said.
On the night of the fatal encounter, someone called Thomas to alert him that the gas station manager had requested a tow truck to impound his vehicle, sending Thomas scurrying to see about his van.
One witness suggested that Thomas never had a chance as he was sucker-punched as soon as he opened the door of the tow truck to confront the driver.
“He open the door of the tow truck and the guy punch him in the head! He go down and bam! Dead. He die right there in front of pump 6! He never touch the guy, only touch his door and the guy come out and punch him,” the Post quoted the man.
Thomas was a former jockey who worked at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. He is survived by his son, daughter, and several stepchildren, according to his family.
Relatives said the deadly situation may have stemmed from an apparent mixup between Thomas and the station manager, who knew each other through a friendly arrangement.
Family members explained that the gas station charged $10 for overnight parking if street parking was unavailable, noting that Thomas often relied on the arrangement but would pay the fee when he retrieved his vehicle the next day, not when he dropped it off.
It’s unclear why the station manager called the tow truck on Thomas’ van that night, but family members said it was not the first time he had dealt with something like this.
Thomas’ stepdaughter, Alexis Peters, also expressed confusion over the violent episode because Thomas was a man of small stature and had a friendly persona, leading her to question how anyone could have perceived him as a threat.
“Why he got to die over $10?” Peters said. “He’s short. He’s shorter than my sister here. He’s a little man, you got to punch him like that? You got to kill him over $10?”
