The streets of New York were marked by tragedy this past weekend as two women lost their lives in separate vehicular incidents in the Bronx and Brooklyn. In the Olinville area of the Bronx, a 78-year-old woman was struck by a 56-year-old driver on White Plains Road at East 216th Street at approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Suffering severe head trauma, she was rushed to Jacobi Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The driver remained at the scene, and no arrests have been immediately reported, as indicated by Gothamist.
Not long after, tragedy struck again in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy area, where another vehicular fatality occurred just before midnight. A 32-year-old woman was hit at the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Marcus Garvey Boulevard by an unidentified Chevy driver who then collided with two parked vehicles before abandoning their car and fleeing on foot in an unknown direction. Emergency medical workers transported the victim to Kings County Hospital, where she too was pronounced dead. Her identity has not been released pending family notification, and as of yet, there have been no arrests made. Gothamist reports that traffic deaths are down 20% citywide compared to last year.
In a related and equally disturbing incident, a pregnant 32-year-old woman, later identified as Tiffany Cifuni, was killed after a minor collision in Brooklyn. The accident transpired on Saturday at Van Buren Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard. After what appeared to be a minor collision, Cifuni exited her vehicle to inspect the damage when the driver of the Chevy Trax she had collided with subsequently accelerated, striking her from behind. The force dragged her before the driver sped off, hitting a Volkswagen SUV, then a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and eventually fleeing on foot, according to the New York Post. Cifuni, who was in her first trimester of pregnancy, was declared dead at Kings County Hospital.
Her grieving in-laws revealed that she and her husband had recently announced their pregnancy. The New York Post also reported that the young woman was on her way home from a Beyoncé concert at MetLife Stadium at the time of her death. The driver involved in the tragic hit-and-run remains at large, and police continue to pursue leads in the ongoing investigation. The other individual in the Jeep Grand Cherokee was not seriously injured.
