Authorities say 83-year-old Margaret Walsh was just steps from her home, walking to the neighborhood beauty parlor when she crossed Forest Avenue at Pelton Avenue just after 1 p.m. Friday and was struck.
Moments later, paramedics struggled to keep her alive.
She was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center in critical condition with a severe head injury.
The driver was identified as 20-year-old Cesar Velasquez, of Port Richmond, who was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license.
He did not leave the scene and waited for police to arrive, but police say his car was unregistered and uninsured.
His license, they say, has been suspended 16 times.
At the hair salon where Walsh's name was in the appointment book, workers were heartbroken.
Walsh grew up in West Brighton, where she and her late husband, an FDNY lieutenant, raised seven children.
