Motorists fatally struck three women in less than 24 hours in separate traffic accidents across the borough.
The first incident came on Wednesday at around 10:30 am in Clinton Hill, when an elderly driver behind the wheel of a 1996 Ford Bronco smashed into a 67-year-old grandmother, who was in the crosswalk near Lafayette Avenue and St. James Place, according to authorities. First responders rushed the woman to Brooklyn Hospital with multiple traumatic injuries, and doctors pronounced her dead.
Hours later, a 67-year-old woman was crossing 86th Street in Bensonhurst mid-block, when a private sanitation truck hit her near Bay Parkway at around 4 am on Thursday — reportedly splitting the victim’s body in half, according to several users on the crime-reporting Citizen app. The driver of the truck had fled the scene before police arrived, according to authorities, who pronounced the victim dead on the scene.
Borough President Eric Adams took to Twitter to demand accountability for the driver, and call for better safety measures to protect pedestrians.
“The hit and run driver that struck a pedestrian in Bensonhurst must be brought to justice,” Adams said. “[The Department of Transportation] must act TODAY to implement quick fix safety improvements to address this crisis at dangerous intersections like Flatlands and Flatbush, and throughout the city.”
Hours after that incident, a morning commuter in Marine Park forced her way off a moving B41 bus, when she hit a pole on the sidewalk — before being run over by the bus, according to Deputy Police Chief Charles Scholl.
“The passenger was on the city bus, she attempted to get off because she missed her stop, she became a little irate and the door fell open and she fell out and she went under the rear wheels,” Scholl said. “At this time, it appears to be no fault of the operator of the bus and its another tragedy of people not being careful putting themselves in harms way, tragic loss of life that should’ve been avoided.”
First responders arrived on the scene near Flatlands and Flatbush avenues at around 9 am, and pronounced the victim dead on the scene. The MTA said the collision remains under investigation.
The most recent incident marks the eighth pedestrian death citywide of 2020, after the conclusion of a particularly deadly year last year — which saw 218 traffic-related deaths, including 28 bicyclist and 121 pedestrian fatalities.
