The self-proclaimed addict accused of plowing over 11 people in a horrific Fourth of July crash is being held in protective custody — a decision that drew outrage from victims’ loved ones.
A grand jury has yet to hand down an indictment against against Daniel Christopher Hyden, 44, who has been jailed without bail after his arrest in the deadly Lower East Side crash, prosecutors said Wednesday during a Manhattan court hearing.
While Hyden didn’t appear in court for the hearing, family friends of Herman and Lucille Pinkney — two of three people killed in the holiday horror — showed up and accused him of cowardice.
They exclaimed “wow” as a judge ordered Hyden placed in protective custody.
“You’re hiding in protective custody?” Kimberly Jackson, 58, said her friend Lucille Pinkney’s accused killer.
“You’re supposed to be a man. That’s not being a man. You’re a freaking coward.”
Hyden, a substance abuse counselor who wrote a book called “The Sober Addict,” is accused of killing three pedestrians when he drunkenly barreled a gray Ford F-150 through a Lower East Side intersection, over a sidewalk and into revelers celebrating the holiday in Corlears Hook Park.
The wreck left Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Herman Pinkney, 38 — who lived together near the crash scene — as well as Ana Morel, 43, dead.
The other eight injured included Herman’s longtime girlfriend Jessica Pellot and her 11-year-old son, Jakob Velazquez.
Hyden is next due in court Aug. 1.
