Woman hit and killed by truck around the corner from her home on Upper East Side
UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- A woman was hit and killed by a truck around the corner from her home on the Upper East Side on Monday, just days before her 82nd birthday.
Yasuko Gerson just had dinner with her sister on Sunday, when she got a call the very next day that no one wanted to receive.
"The doorman said, 'Yasuko, I have bad news for you. I have bad news for you.' I said, 'What happened?' He said, 'Your sister got hit by a car -- truck.' I said 'Oh my god,'" Yasuko said.
Police responded to 59th Street and Second Avenue where Akiko Omi was hit by a truck just after 10:15 a.m.
Police said the driver did not stop.
Omi was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital where she passed away.
Yasuko was too upset to appear on camera. She said she visited her sister in the hospital for the last time.
"I opened her eyes and said, 'What are you doing, what are you doing?' but no response. It's so sad. I can't believe overnight, just this minute it happens," Yasuko said.
Omi walked with a cane, and police said she stumbled while on the sidewalk, fell into traffic and that's when the driver hit her without stopping and continued across the Queensboro Bridge.
"He should know that he hit somebody," Yasuko said.
Police are still searching for the driver of a 2023 Ford Transit Connect who fled from the scene.
Yasuko says she's never had to live without her older sister.
"Now I have no purpose so much because my sister is gone," Yasuko said.
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