Brooklyn district attorney reveals new details in crash that killed mother, daughters
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN (WABC) -- The Brooklyn District attorney spoke exclusively with Eyewitness News on Wednesday about the horrific crash over the weekend that claimed the lives of a mother and her two daughters.
Miriam Yarimi, 32, is facing a slew of charges, including three counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection to the Saturday crash.
"It actually exceeds just being reckless, it's almost being wanton, we're not going to tolerate that," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
Police say Yarimi's speeding vehicle crashed into an Uber and then slammed into the family trying to walk across the street.
The bodies of 34-year-old Natasha Saada, 8-year-old Diana and 5-year-old Deborah were laid to rest in Israel this week.
A 4-year-old remains at the hospital where is facing "tough straights."
"We expect him to make some kind of recovery, but its going to be a long road for him," Gonzalez said.
Multiple city officials, including Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, sat shiva with the family in their Brooklyn home as they mourned the deaths of the boy's mother and two older sisters.
The boy lost one of his kidneys during treatment at Maimonides Medical Center, Lander revealed after the visit.
Yarimi was speeding, "probably doing close to twice the speed limit" and "ran a red light" just before the crash, Gonzalez revealed.
"Her vehicle had been ticketed many times by red light cameras and speed cameras, that car was a frequent violator of both speed laws and red light laws, and there is no excuse for running a red light," Gonzalez said.
After the crash, Yarimi told first responders she was possessed and the CIA was following her.
Five people in the Uber suffered minor injuries but are now traumatized from what happened.
Yarimi was scheduled to attend an arraignment from her bedside as she undergoes a medical evaluation at Bellevue Hospital.
Police do not believe she was on drugs or drunk at the time of the crash.
Newly released city data shows the number of car-related deaths the last three months are the lowest since 2018. Despite the improvements, Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez says the city is still working to make the streets safer.
"What we are doing is more than controlling the speeding, changing the culture, people have to realize that we live in the modern city, that if you drive in the highway, you don't compete with anybody else more than drivers, but if you're in the street, there are cyclists, pedestrians and we have to protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers," Rodriguez said.
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