On Sunday, neighbors and safe-streets advocates quietly returned to the Midwood crosswalk where a speeding driver killed a mother and two of her daughters one year ago. At Ocean Parkway and Quentin Road, they left flowers and small memorials for Natasha Saada and her children, while renewing demands for tougher action on repeat speeders. The anniversary served both as a moment of mourning and as a sharp reminder for advocates pressing lawmakers in Albany.
Flowers were placed at the intersection as organizers spoke about the loss, according to CBS News New York. The station identified the victims as 34-year-old Natasha Saada and her daughters, 8-year-old Diana and 5-year-old Deborah, who were killed when a speeding driver hit them as they crossed the street. Advocates used the solemn gathering to keep pressure on officials to follow through on safety measures they say could prevent another family from suffering the same fate.
Prosecutors say the crash unfolded shortly after 1 p.m. on March 29, 2025, when driver Miriam Yarimi ran a red light and, according to crash data cited by prosecutors, the Audi involved was traveling at highway speeds in a 25-mph zone before it slammed into a waiting car and then into the Saada family. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office says Saada and her two daughters died at the scene and the family’s 4-year-old son was critically injured; Yarimi later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2025.
Anniversary lands amid a policy moment
Organizers deliberately tied the remembrance to a live fight in Albany over a legislative fix. Sen. Andrew Gounardes’ “Stop Super Speeders” proposal, which would require speed-limiting technology for repeat speed-camera violators, has been written into the State Senate’s one-house budget and was the focus of recent rallies, according to a press release from Sen. Andrew Gounardes. Supporters say the bill goes after a small core of chronic offenders and would force installation of intelligent speed assistance devices designed to prevent the kind of high-speed crashes that killed the Saada family.
Residents and safety groups have long argued that Ocean Parkway itself practically invites speeding, and advocacy reporting has pointed to hundreds of crashes along the corridor in recent years as evidence that the road needs a redesign and tougher enforcement. Streetsblog New York chronicled local anger after the crash and quoted advocates who said the Saada family’s deaths underscored the urgency of combining engineering changes with targeted technology for repeat violators.
Legal developments
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, said the investigation showed the Audi was traveling at about 68 mph in a 25-mph zone and that the driver had a long history of camera violations. The office announced a guilty plea and a November 19, 2025 sentencing to an indeterminate term of three to nine years in state prison. The DA’s press release cast the sentence as a clear message about prosecuting reckless driving, while advocates say it also underscores the gaps that legislation like Stop Super Speeders is intended to close.
On the one-year mark, families and activists said they plan to keep pushing for immediate safety fixes at dangerous crossings and for broader legal tools in Albany so that repeat offenders can be stopped before they kill again. With the Stop Super Speeders language now in the Senate’s one-house budget, advocates are hoping the painful anniversary will sharpen lawmakers’ focus as the budget and related bills move toward final votes.
