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Two Brooklyn Car Accidents Leave Two Dead
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2010
Modified Mar 8, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2010
Modified Mar 8, 2010
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Sun Won Cho, a 40-year-old mother of two, was killed in a church parking lot in Gravesend yesterday afternoon when an elderly man accidentally accelerated his black Mercedes SUV in reverse. Four other people, including two children, were injured after the SUV suddenly car accelerated toward the group as they gathered near a playground. The driver, 72-year-old Kyongkoo Park, remained at the scene and was not charged. Witnesses described the tragic scene.
"I just saw people crying and screaming," local resident Brian Fan tells the Daily News. ""Parents were telling the children, 'Go inside!'" Surveillance cameras captured the accident outside the predominantly Korean church, where Park had just dropped off a passenger around 2:45 p.m. Police say the SUV pulled forward about 10 feet before suddenly shifting into reverse, "accelerating in a reverse semicircle and plowing into the crowd." Apparently, Park knew one of the women he hit. The injured victims were treated last night for minor injuries.
A few miles away in Dyker Heights, a 37-year-old woman named Natalie Assee was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing Fort Hamilton Parkway near 75th Street around 2 a.m. Sunday. Witnesses tell police she was hit by a white four-door sedan, which then sped off toward the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Investigators found pieces of the car on the ground, the Times reports. But locals aren't surprised, and say this stretch of Fort Hamilton Parkway is a problem area. "They're getting off the Gowanus, the Verrazano, they're speeding to make the lights," local Ralph Carillo tells WCBS. "Maybe reset the lights to slow down speed a little bit."
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1(800) 577-TIPS. You can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting tips to 274637 (crimes) then enter TIP577.
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dyker heights
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hit and run driver
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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