Hit-run driver who fatally mowed down NYC gospel drummer in Feb. is finally busted: cops

A hit-and-run SUV driver who fatally mowed down a gospel drummer and “loving father” of a 4-year-old boy in East Willliamsburg in February finally surrendered to police Monday, cops said. Gregory Ventura, 35, turned himself with a lawyer at a Downtown Brooklyn police precinct around 8:40 a.m.and was charged with criminally negligent homicide for striking Joshua Germain, 31, the early morning of Feb.

15, authorities and sources said.Germain was crossing Vandervoort Avenue at the Maspeth Avenue intersection around 12:15 a.m.when Ventura, who was behind the wheel of a Nissan Murano, struck him and drove off, police said.The gravely injured Germain was rushed to the Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he succumbed to his injuries Feb.

20 – his father’s birthday. Just a week earlier, Germain had attended an event at his son’s school, his dad, Jean Germain, told The Post on Monday.“He made sure that he was at every game, every school event,” the elder Germain said.“The last event he went to with his son was like a little party they had at the school.

He was there with his son on a Friday before he passed away. “A week before [his death], he was at his son’s school, and tomorrow that’s his son’s graduation,” he added.“He loved his son.

He was a lovely son, a lovely father.”In his own school days, Germain was a stand-out drummer, winning an award at McDonald’s Gospelfest for his percussion performance as a high- schooler, his dad said. He also had a passion for mentoring those younger than him, according to his father.“When he was in high school, he used to work with children and young kids.That’s the kind of kid he was growing up,” he said.

“All those kids’ parents came to his funeral, all the kids, because they’re grown now, they all came to his funeral.”As an adult, Germain was a “hardworking man” with a “nice union job,” his dad said. “He was helping everybody on the street, everybody that he loves,” the ol...