1 woman dead, 1 injured after being struck by vehicle in Bushwick; driver flees on foot: police
BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- One woman is dead and another is in critical condition after they were struck by a vehicle in Bushwick, Brooklyn, according to police.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Eldert Street and Knickerbocker Avenue just after 5 p.m.
Neighbors and witnesses told Eyewitness News that the two women mowed down, a 71-year-old and 44-year-old, were a mother and daughter who were crossing the street together at the intersection.
"I parked the van, went to my apartment, heard the crash," eyewitness Rodrigo Gonzalez said.
The sound was a blue Mazda crashing into Gonzalez's parked van, but the damage was nothing compared to the horrific injuries the two women suffered.
"The older woman got CPR as soon as they could," Gonzalez said. "They calmed the middle-aged woman down. But she... they were both very hurt."
The response was swift because the police were already there.
Video from a corner store shows the blue Mazda speeding through the intersection with a police car right behind it.
The NYPD says the officers in the car with lights and sirens on were looking to stop the driver for a traffic infraction.
The car flew past eyewitness Sandra Villaman, who would arrive at the intersection and immediately recognize it.
"And I see that car had hit somebody. So, I came up here and I saw two ladies on the floor," she said. "They tried to resuscitate one of them and the other one was sitting, and two men were helping."
Witnesses also told Eyewitness News reporter Sonia Rincon that while the officers from the police helped the women, the driver of the Mazda with Massachusetts plates took off running.
Police dogs searched the area and the Halsey Street L train station, but he was gone.
Gonzalez heard from a driver who narrowly escaped being T-boned at that intersection.
"He was like pale nervous, shaking," Gonzalez said.
But the women in the crosswalk could not escape.
The 71-year-old woman was taken to Wycoff Hospital where she later died. The 44-year-old woman is at Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition.
"It's a tragic thing. It's really tragic. Shouldn't be doing that just to joyride," said neighbor Allen Lott.
The NYPD says it was not pursuing the driver before the crash but was following him with lights and sirens after seeing him commit an unspecified traffic infraction.
The only description they have is of a young man in a blue shirt and blue jeans with a ponytail.
No arrests have been made.
The NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad is investigating this deadly hit and run.
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