Bronx Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run

A Bronx woman killed in a hit-and-run on Black Friday was returning from Christmas shopping with her fiancé when she was mowed down by an ex-con with four license suspensions, officials said yesterday.

Sonya Gayle Powell, 42, was crossing busy Baychester Avenue in Edenwald when she was struck by a 2007 Infiniti -- as her shocked boyfriend helplessly watched from across the street.

Yesterday, David Sheppard, 41, clutching a framed photo of the woman he had planned to marry, was inconsolable outside the couple's home.

"I can't believe this. She was everything to me," he said before breaking down in tears.

Powell was a nursing assistant at the Frances Schervier Home and Hospital in Riverdale.

The driver, Sheldon Reid, is accused of heartlessly leaving Powell to die in a crumpled heap, her holiday packages scattered in the middle of the street.

Reid pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing last night and was held on $20,000 cash or bond. He's due back in court Friday.

At 28, Reid is no stranger to prison life, having served two years for shooting a man twice in the chest in 2004. He finished his parole this past March.

The suspect is charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving a fatality and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

His license was suspended Monday for defaulting on a summons payment, Department of Motor Vehicles records show.

It was also suspended in March for the same reason and on Feb. 24, 2007, for an incident involving injuries and property damage.

And in September 2008, he was stripped of his license for failing to pay a ticket after being caught going 80 mph in a 50-mph zone.

Dane Clark, 18, witnessed Friday's tragedy.

"This car came out of nowhere and hit her," Clark said. "Her boyfriend pulled her to the sidewalk and was screaming for someone to help him. I called police myself. She was lying on the floor, bleeding from her head.

"The driver stopped all the way down the block and put the car in reverse and then got out with his friend and said, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!' "

Powell was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital. Reid was arrested two hours later at his Murdock Avenue home -- just blocks from the house where Sheppard and Powell had dreamed of a far different future.