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Queens Woman Pushing Toddler In Stroller Killed By Driver With Suspended License, Police Say
By
David Cruz
Published Jun 25, 2021
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David Cruz
Published Jun 25, 2021
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A woman pushing a toddler in a stroller was struck and killed by the driver of a pickup truck near the Cross Island Expressway in Whitestone on Thursday. The incident comes as more people have died in traffic-related crashes compared to the same period last year.
Police say Insook Rol, 58, was pushing the stroller reportedly holding her 19-month-old granddaughter at a crosswalk near the parkway's access road on 150th Street when she was hit by the driver of a white, 2015 GMC Sierra pick-up truck just after 10 a.m. The driver was attempting to make a left turn to the service road, according to police and surveillance video obtained by multiple news outlets.
READ MORE: De Blasio's Final Year Of Vision Zero Begins With Surging Pedestrian Deaths
Orlando Huerta, a witness, told WCBS-TV he saw the woman and little girl on the ground, with bottles strewn about the roadway.
"The lady was full of blood and the kid had bruises. It was sad," Huerta told WCBS-TV.
Rol was rushed to a local hospital and pronounced dead while the toddler was hospitalized for minor injuries.
The driver, identified by police as Angelo Graci, 43, remained at the scene. Video surveillance obtained by multiple outlets showed Graci picking up the stroller and Rol's body from the street and placing her on the sidewalk. He was arrested and charged with aggravated unlicensed operator, failure to yield to a pedestrian, and failure to exercise due care.
NYPD statistics show 120 people have been killed in traffic-related crashes through June 20th this year, compared to 80 during the same period in 2020, a 50% increase. Brooklyn has seen the most traffic-related deaths this year, with 38, according to NYPD statistics.
The numbers are the highest since the launch of Vision Zero, Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature proposal to reduce traffic-related fatalities to zero. In a statement, Rita Barravecchio, a member of Families for Safe Streets, an advocacy group for victims of traffic crashes, said "speeding and reckless driving are out of control."
"There is no urgency to prevent more deaths," Barravecchio, whose 17-year-old niece was killed by a driver blocks from Thurday's incident, said in a statement. "We need our current mayor to take immediate action to save lives, we need Albany to pass Sammy’s Law, and we need our next mayor to take a bolder and stronger approach to redesigning streets for safety.”
Sammy's Law—a bill proposal named after Samuel Cohen-Eckstein, who was struck and killed by a driver in Brooklyn in 2013—would allow New York City to set even lower speed limits. The current citywide speed limit in New York City is 25 miles per hour, with exceptions to school zones.
At a news conference earlier this week, de Blasio had defended the Vision Zero policy, blaming the pandemic and the increase in crime for steering police resources away from traffic enforcement.
“Vision Zero works," de Blasio said at a news conference. "But Vision Zero also requires more and more enforcement by the NYPD. The NYPD had to move a lot of resources into dealing with a whole host of other challenges that came up from COVID, including the gun violence problem. As we knock down violent crime, we are going to shift resources back to things like Vision Zero more and more.”
At the same news conference, Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman, said the agency hoped the "reckless driving" which has turned into an "epidemic" would subside.
"So far that hasn't happened," Gutman said.
Tagged
car crash
queens
vision zero
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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