Queens community mourns teen struck, killed by truck driver, demands justice
SUNNYSIDE, Queens (WABC) -- Chanting in Spanish "queremos justicia," or "we want justice," the grieving family of 16-year-old Jael Zhinin on Friday gathered at the site where she was fatally struck and her younger sister injured by a truck earlier in the week.
The family knows what happened to Zhinin and her 8-year-old sister, Leslie, on Wednesday night could have happened to any child crossing the street.
Their aunt says they were crossing at the crosswalk, had the light, and did nothing wrong. Surveillance video captured the driver turning the corner. He was stopped a couple of blocks away.
Zhinin's heartbroken father, Segundo, had a message for the driver, who has not been charged.
"You don't know the pain you caused," he said.
He says much of that anguish is over his 9-year-old daughter, who is still hospitalized.
Zhinin's family and neighbors have been reliving the crash, wondering how the driver didn't see the girls as he turned in front of a school.
Her cousin, John Tacuri, said the teen was a good student. Her long-term plans included business school.
"She knew exactly what she wanted for her future," Tacuri said.
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