The alleged drunk driver accused of mowing down 11 people at a Fourth of July celebration on the Lower East Side was ordered held without bail Saturday.
Substance abuse counselor Daniel Christopher Hyden faces 25 years or more behind bars on three counts of vehicular homicide for the gruesome crash which left three people dead and eight others hurt.
Prosecutors showed photos of the damage allegedly left behind by Hyden’s pickup truck.
“That damage is from striking 11 human beings,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matt Bogdanos told Judge Robert Mandelbaum as he showed images of the carnage.
Hyden, 44, whose face was still visibly swollen, kept his head down throughout the proceeding.
Lab results are still pending on Hyden’s blood alcohol content, authorities said, noting he refused breathalyzer tests after the crash and allegedly kept his eyes closed — so no one could see his bloodshot eyes.
Hyden’s lawyer declined comment after the Saturday morning arraignment.
Hyden, who wrote a book called “The Sober Addict,” painted himself as a well-meaning substance abuse counselor and positive example for others struggling with addiction.
Police believe Hyden got into a fight with a bouncer at a downtown bar Thursday night after he was refused entry for already being too drunk, law-enforcement sources said.
The bouncer agreed to refund him for the ticket to the Fourth of July party and sent him on his way about an hour before the deadly crash at nearby Corlears Hook Park, the sources said.
Hyden is accused of driving a gray Ford F-150 through the Water Street and Jackson Street intersection, over the sidewalk and into the crowd celebrating the holiday in the park just before 9 p.m., according to police.
Surveillance footage showed the truck barreling down the street with no signs of slowing down at the intersection just before the crash.
The car jumped the curb and into a fence — which did nothing to stop it — sending sparks into the air as the vehicle hurled toward the family, the video shows.
The wreck claimed the lives of Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Herman Pinkney, 38 — who lived together near the crash scene — and Ana Morel, 43.
The other eight injured included Herman’s longtime girlfriend Jessica Pellot and her 11-year-old son, Jakob Velazquez, who relatives told The Post was “traumatized” by the loss of his father figure.
Hyden, a former New Jersey resident, currently lives in The Bronx, according to neighbors,
Hyden has at least three prior arrests in New York City and a long rap sheet that spans to Wisconsin.