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Queens Hit-And-Run Victim Too Distraught To Tell Daughter Her Mother Is Dead
By
Scott Heins
Published Jul 19, 2016
Modified Jul 24, 2017
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By
Scott Heins
Published Jul 19, 2016
Modified Jul 24, 2017
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A Queens family is devastated in the wake of a hit-and-run crash on Sunday that killed a woman and seriously inured her 9-year-old daughter. The woman's husband, Azaan Rasool, 46, was behind the wheel and waiting at a stop sign near 115th Avenue and 130th Street in South Ozone Park at approximately 5 p.m. when a driver speeding in a BMW SUV slammed into Rasool's car. "I tried my best to get away, but he clipped the back of it,” Rasool told the Daily News. "When I came out, I looked for them. I could not find them."
Rasool's wife, Zaalika, and young daughter Sara were both ejected from the vehicle through the Toyota's rear window. A witness to the deadly impact told CBS that Zaalika became pinned under the driver's side tire, while the girl was thrown between two nearby trees.
"The guy was coming so sudden at 100 miles per hour," Rasool told the News. "I tried to swerve to get away." The BMW's driver reportedly fled the scene on foot, with one witness telling the NY Post that he and his passenger, a 46-year-old male who was later taken to a hospital, both appeared drunk and were slurring their words.
Rasool and his family spoke to reporters while visiting the injured girl in the hospital yesterday, telling them that they haven't yet found the strength to tell her that her mother is dead.
"[Sara] is asking for her mother, and we can't tell her," Rasool's cousin, Tariq Lallmohamed, told the Post.
"She asked me what happened. I didn't answer her. She needs to recover first," Rasool added. The tabloid notes that yesterday Sara remained in critical condition and was recovering from injuries including broken bones and bruising.
The driver who sped through the stop sign and struck the Rasool family has yet to be apprehended, and an investigation is ongoing, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed.
"Im still in shock," Rasool said at the hospital Monday. "I saw her on the ground right there in front of me... I saw my wife first, and I knew she was dead, and then I looked for my daughter who was 6 or 7 feet away from the car. I started screaming, 'Help! Call 911!'"
Tagged
fatal collision
fatal crash
hit and run
queens
vision zero
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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