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Horrible Harlem Crash Sends Cars Up On Sidewalk, One Woman Dead, Infants Injured
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 7, 2013
Modified Feb 7, 2013
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Courtesy CBS 2
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 7, 2013
Modified Feb 7, 2013
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A collision between two motorists in Harlem yesterday afternoon left one woman dead and several people injured, including two infants. According to the NYPD, an unidentified woman driving a Ford Focus was headed south on Broadway when she attempted to make a left turn at West 135th Street. There she collided with the driver of a Ford van heading north. The collision sent both vehicles careening up onto the sidewalk.
The front passenger in the Ford Focus, 46-year-old Lisette Ventura, was killed, and a 44-year-old pedestrian sustained non-life threatening injuries. The driver and her two infant children who were in the back seat were hospitalized but their injuries are also not life-threatening. According to one witness, immediately after the crash bystanders sprang into action, trying to help the women trapped inside the Ford Focus. "They were trying to move it off the sidewalk, like with their own human strength," a witness tells CBS 2.
No criminality in regards to the crash is suspected, but the NYPD did arrest the van driver, who was uninjured. Wislairs Mentor, 36, is not charged with criminality in regards to the crash, but police say he was arrested for driving without a license.
The husband of the woman who died, Fernando Gonzalez, was seen sobbing outside the hospital. He told reporters in Spanish, "She was my family, my heart."
Tagged
crash
harlem
no criminality suspected
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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