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Hit-And-Run Driver Who Killed Woman & Injured Daughter Arrested, Charged With Manslaughter
By
Scott Heins
Published Jul 20, 2016
Modified Jul 24, 2017
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By
Scott Heins
Published Jul 20, 2016
Modified Jul 24, 2017
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A driver suspected of killing a Queens woman and seriously injuring her 9-year-old daughter in a hit-and-run collision Sunday has been arrested by the NYPD and charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault. 58-year-old Jairam Budhu was taken into custody Tuesday, and police allege that he had been speeding in his BMW SUV when he ignored a stop sign at 115th Avenue and 130th Street in South Ozone Park and slammed into a family sitting in their Toyota sedan at approximately 5 p.m.
40-year-old Zaalika Rasool and her daughter Sara were both thrown from the vehicle at impact, while Azaan Rasool, 46, remained in the vehicle. "The guy was coming so sudden at 100 miles per hour," Rasool told the Daily News. "I tried to swerve to get away."
Rasool exited the mangled car to find his wife pinned beneath one of its wheels and his daughter thrown between two trees. "Im still in shock," Rasool told reporters while caring for his daughter 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!'"
Witnesses allege that the BMW's driver fled the scene on foot, leaving behind a passenger in his car. A witness to the crash told the Post that both appeared to be slurring their words and drunk.
Rasool and his relatives confessed that they hadn't yet had the heart to tell the young girl, who suffered broken bones and bruising, that her mother been killed. "[Sara] is asking for her mother, and we can't tell her," Rasool's cousin, Tariq Lallmohamed, told the Post.
NY1 reports that Azaan Rasool was laid to rest at a funeral service yesterday.
Budhu, who reportedly turned himself in, also faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing death, leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, and aggravated unlicensed operator (no DWI charges have been filed). In a video showing him being placed in a police vehicle, Budhu did not respond to reporters' questions, which included "What do you have to say to the family?" and "Why did you leave?"
Tagged
fatal collision
fatal crash
hit and run
Jairam Budhu
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
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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