Arrest Made In Hit-And-Run That Left Staten Island Grandmother Seriously Hurt
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman has been arrested in connection to a hit-and-run that left a grandmother seriously wounded in the Concord section of Staten Island.
It happened just after 8 a.m. back on July 14 in the area of Woodlawn Avenue and Clove Road.
Police said 62-year-old Maria Larosa was crossing Clove Road after a trip to the supermarket when she was hit by a black, two-door Honda Accord with gold New York license plates driven by 22-year-old Beatrice Tchoungoua, of Staten Island.
In the graphic video, the driver doesn't appear to hesitate and keeps going, fleeing south on Hylan Boulevard.
"If you've watched the video, it's amazing," Larosa's attorney Michael Gaffney told CBS2's Andrea Grymes. "God willing she's still alive."
It happened right in front of a produce market where David Gonzales was working.
"She was under the car and to get rid of her body, he hit the gas and then she was dragged from there to that point over here," he told CBS2's Magdalena Doris.
Gonzales ran to her side.
"She grabbed my hand and was just screaming, 'I can't feel my legs, I can't feel my legs,'" he said. "She was in crazy pain. I know she's got broken legs."
The woman was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital in serious but stable condition.
Tchoungoua is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, failure to yield to a pedestrian, and failure to stop at a stop sign.
The incident happened at a hectic intersection where neighbors say drivers aren't concerned with pedestrians.
"Cars never stop at the stop sign," Artie Garcia, who works nearby, said. "That's why you always have cops sitting here, just so they could pull the people over and stuff like that. People always blow past the stop sign."
Larosa's attorney says up until now, she had been working full-time as a food service employee at a nursing home in Brooklyn. Now, she's recuperating at home with her family.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
