NYPD officers arrived to find the 85-year-old victim dead after he was crushed by the tree.
Sewchand Maniram, 62, is one of only two survivors pulled from a boat that capsized off Staten Island over the weekend.
The mother had left the red Acura running outside the laundromat, going in to get her laundry as her child took a nap.
Workers from National Grid were fixing a high-pressure gas line on 101st Avenue sometime after 6 a.m. Thursday.
The 31-year-old mother was able to run away with her child before the suspect got away.
The young girl was taken to a hospital in complete shock and feels scared and abandoned, her dad says.