A rampaging Chevrolet Suburban driver vaulted a Queens sidewalk and mowed down a 16-year-old girl he argued with early Saturday, killing her in a horrific crash caught on video, police said.
The 38-year-old driver also struck a 32-year-old, believed to be the dead teen’s mother, at Roosevelt Ave. and Benham St. in Jackson Heights. The older woman was hospitalized, but is expected to recover.
“He was driving, then he makes a turn and he hits the girl,” a horrified cashier at a nearby deli who witnessed the crash told the Daily News. “He did it on purpose.”
Victim Jhoanny Gomez-Alvarez was walking away from the Suburban, apparently unaware that the SUV was barreling toward her, according to the witness, who wished not to be named.
“She was walking,” the cashier said. “He hit her in the back. I was working. I came outside and I saw somebody cry, and somebody scream.”
Police sources said the driver was sitting behind the wheel of his idling grey 2009 Suburban with North Carolina license plates on Roosevelt Ave., beneath the elevated No. 7 line, as Jhoanny, the older woman and two other pedestrians walked by at around 4:15 a.m.
A second police source told WABC Eyewitness News that the older woman was Jhoanny’s mother.
The teenage girl argued with the Suburban driver before the foursome walked off, witnesses told police. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two knew each other, or what they were arguing about.
The victim was more than a half a block away when the driver sped down Roosevelt Ave., cops said.
Video recovered at the scene shows Jhoanny and the others crossing Benham St. at Roosevelt Ave. They had just reached the corner when the SUV raced by, leapt onto the sidewalk and slammed into them.
A man with them jumped away at the last second, the video shows.
The massive SUV remained on the sidewalk for about 10 seconds before it reversed and sped on down one-way Benham St., heading in the wrong direction, the video shows.
“He hit the girl then tried to run away,” the cashier said. “He backed away and he went (down) the wrong way street.”
The driver didn’t make it far. A short distance away, he slammed into an unoccupied parked car. He then abandoned the Suburban and ran off on foot, only to be arrested by responding officers.
Jhoanny died at the scene. The teen lived in Washington Heights, Manhattan, about 11 miles from where she was killed.
“I sent my delivery man (to check it out),” the cashier said. “He told me (it was) some girl. Her stomach is outside.”
EMS rushed the 32-year-old woman to Elmhurst Hospital, where she’s expected to survive.
Cops had closed off Roosevelt Ave. by Benham St. as they continued their investigation.
A bloody shoe was found at the spot where the Suburban crashed into the parked car. It’s believed it got caught in the SUV’s frame when it rammed Jhoanny and the other victim, then flew loose when it struck the parked car.
Police on Saturday afternoon were waiting on a search warrant for the SUV before going through it.
Cops have declared the incident a homicide. Criminal charges against the Suburban driver, who has not been identified, were pending Saturday.
Despite the early hour, there were about a half-dozen people milling about the corner in the moments before the crash, the video shows.
Over the last several months, the city has done a massive multi-agency crackdown on that section of Roosevelt Ave. to curb prostitution, unlicensed vendors and other quality of life offenses.
The initiative, dubbed “Operation Restore Roosevelt,” began late last year and has been credited for bringing down crime in the area by 28% as of June.
Area residents, however, believe more work needs to be done. In late August, a group rallied to call on the federal government to step in and help tamp down crime in the area.
from New York Daily News https://ift.tt/mDHL14B
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment