A peaceful morning on a quiet street in New York turned into a tragedy in seconds yesterday, when a baby was run over while walking hand in hand with her mother on Staten Island.
The security camera of a neighboring house recorded the disturbing scene in the distance, capturing the desperate screams of the mother, after being hit along with her daughter in the crosswalk by a woman driving a Jeep, yesterday shortly after 7 am in the Rosebank neighborhood.
The Jeep truck was making a left turn from Scarboro Av onto Abbot St., when driver Shannon Cocozza of 40 years hit them. The woman remained at the scene and was later charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian and not exercising due care.
Paramedics rushed baby Lian Mashni, from 20 months old and her mother to Staten Island North Hospital. The girl underwent surgery, but she died about an hour later, police said. The mother of 31 years old was reported in stable condition, with injuries to her legs.
“I heard the mother scream,” witness Frances García told ABC News. “Everyone was running straight there. When I arrived, the mother had her whole body on top of the baby… who was bleeding from her head. The driver came over and helped her out of it and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’” She was like, ‘It’s not your fault. The truck was on the road.’”
In addition to armed violence, traffic accidents are another great challenge for the new mayor, Eric Adams, after a fatal legacy from his predecessor, Bill De Blasio. New York City has seen a 35% increase in traffic accidents so far this year, the NYPD reported in mid-April. At the end of that month there was a tragic streak in NYC at an average of one person killed by a run over every day.