Today, the funeral of grandmother Clara Almazo was held at ur Lady of Mount Carmel-Saint Benedicta Church in Staten Island, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan presiding over the service. Almazo was killed on Thursday night while heading home from Holy Thursday mass when a car fatally struck her as she crossed Cary Avenue. Almazo, 57, managed to push her 8-year-old grandson, Brian Herrera-Ramirez, out of the way of the SUV. Dolan said he was moved by her selflessness, "Coming home from Holy Thursday mass, I mean the night that Jesus begins his Passion and giving her life for her little grandson. If that's not Christian witness, if that's not heroic virtue I don't know what is."
Brian McGurk, 40, turned himself into police three hours after the 9:50 p.m. incident. He claimed he didn't realize he hit a person, but a witness said it sounded like two cars had crashed, "it was that loud."
Grandson Brian told the Daily News that he tried to yell at McGurk, "I just put my hand out and said, ‘Stop!’ but the car didn’t listen to me. I think (the driver) was talking to somebody." And today at the funeral, the boy who was on crutches said, "She was my favorite grandmother. My sister said she was a hero."
The police are reportedly investigating whether McGurk had been drinking during the incident. Over the weekend, the Post noted that McGurk "describes himself and his bandmates in a profanity-laced Facebook page as 'reprobates and irredeemable inebriates.'" The band is called "F--- O' the Irish."
