BROOKLYN, NY – A fatal accident occurred late Thursday when a driver, in an attempt to evade the police, hit a 71-year-old woman and her daughter crossing a Brooklyn street, according to eyewitness accounts and police reports. The accident happened at the intersection of Eldert Street and Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick at around 5 p.m.
The driver, who was behind the wheel of a blue Mazda CX-5 with Massachusetts tags, struck the elderly woman and her 44-year-old daughter. Emergency responders rushed the 71-year-old woman to the Wyckoff Hospital, but she was unable to survive her injuries. Her daughter, though also struck, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and is currently stable.
The police were reportedly trailing the Mazda as the driver is believed to have committed an undefined traffic violation. After hitting the two women, the driver, identified only as a male with a ponytail, fled the scene. He was last seen heading toward the Halsey Street subway station, but it’s not clear whether he entered the transit system.
Surveillance footage secured by police showed the blue SUV barreling east through the intersection on Eldert Street, narrowly missing a red car moving on Knickerbocker Street, all while a police car was tailing a few seconds behind. An observer confirmed witnessing a police car tailing the Mazda moments before the crash.
Describing the scene, an individual whose white van was hit by the fleeing Mazda said that hearing the crash and coming out of his apartment was “sad and painful”. The Mazda driver remains at large as of late Thursday.