DEFENDANT EXTRADITED FROM GERMANY TO FACE MANSLAUGHTER INDICTMENT FOR ROLE IN FATAL COLLISION

UsaNewsOnline.Com Desk, New York – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Florin Stoian, AKA Slaco Razmias, AKA Slavco Rostas, was extradited from Germany and arraigned on indictment charges of manslaughter, arson, tampering with evidence and related crimes for hitting a pedestrian with a rented BMW X6 while the victim was crossing the street at Myrtle Avenue and Hancock Street in Ridgewood in August 2022. The defendant allegedly fled the scene and deliberately set the vehicle on fire along a residential block less than a mile from the collision site.

The defendant was located in Germany, where he was in custody under the name Slaco Razmias, and extradited to New York yesterday.
District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, in August 2022, this defendant rented a vehicle and plowed into a 74-year-old pedestrian crossing the street in Ridgewood. Rather than face the consequences of his actions, he allegedly destroyed evidence by setting his vehicle on fire – further endangering nearby residents – and then fled the country. Crossing an ocean does not erase criminal responsibility in Queens County.
Working with our federal and international law enforcement partners, including authorities in Germany, my Extraditions Unit and Vehicular Homicide Unit were able to identify the defendant despite his use of an alias, locate him overseas and secure his return to Queens to face justice in our courts.”
Stoian, whose true identity is believed to be Slaco Razmias, 25, was arraigned today on an 11-count indictment charging him with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide, arson in the second, third and fourth degrees, tampering with physical evidence, criminal mischief in the second and fourth degrees, assault in the second degree, leaving the scene of a collision and reckless driving.
Supreme Court Justice Michael Hartofilis remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to court on April 2. If convicted, the defendant faces more than 25 years in prison.
DA Katz said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on August 14, 2022, at approximately 7:40 p.m., Stoian was driving a rented BMW X6 sedan bearing a Florida license plate eastbound on Myrtle Avenue at a high rate of speed when he crossed over a double yellow line and entered the opposing lane of traffic in an attempt to move around traffic in his lane.
When Stoian entered the opposing lane, multiple vehicles approached him head on and he swerved back into the eastbound lane. At that point, the defendant allegedly hit pedestrian 74-year-old Be Tran, who was crossing Myrtle Avenue near the intersection of Hancock Street.
The victim was thrown to the pavement and sustained severe head and body trauma as the result of the collision. He was pronounced dead on scene by first responders at 7:52 p.m.
Stoian allegedly fled the scene and parked at a fire hydrant on 62nd Street, less than a mile from the collision site. The defendant exited the vehicle and walked away.
At approximately 3:20 a.m., nearby residents heard an explosion and saw the parked vehicle on fire.
Video surveillance captured the defendant running away from the scene. The vehicle fire from the BMW extended to two nearby parked vehicles, electrical wiring above the cars, the sidewalk and the exterior of three homes on the block. The blaze also destroyed the crash data recorder from the BMW. The fire was later determined to be incendiary and deliberate.
As part of the investigation, detectives from the District Attorney’s office began reaching out to state and federal law enforcement agencies in an attempt to identify and locate the defendant. In early 2025, the defendant was identified as Slaco Razmias, an Irish national. He was located in custody in Germany on another matter.
The investigation was conducted by the New York City Police Department’s Collision Investigations Squad in close partnership with the District Attorney’s Vehicular Homicide Unit and the Extraditions Unit.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Germany to secure the defendant’s extradition. Stoian was escorted from Germany to New York by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s office in Michigan and the Redmond Police Department in Washington provided crucial assistance.
Assistant District Attorneys Brian Cox and Matthew Hauszpigel of the District Attorney’s Vehicular Homicide Unit are prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Selkowe, Unit Chief of the District Attorney’s Vehicular Homicide Unit and Deputy Bureau Chief of the Homicide Bureau, and John Kosinski, Bureau Chief of the Homicide Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.
Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Press release.