Some more details have emerged about the fatal hit-and-run that killed a Brooklyn resident in lower Manhattan Thursday night. Florence Cioffi was fatally struck by George Anderson's Mercedes SUV on Water Street and Old Slip. Anderson had originally fled the scene but later returned, where he was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
Anderson, who runs a technology firm in the Financial District, had gone to the Rangers-Thrashers game at the Madison Square Garden before coming back downtown to pick up his car. An assistant district attorney, Erin LaFarge, said that he had been driving 60MPH when he hit the 59-year-old secretary, "The woman flew into the air and was killed. The defendant then drove away and returned approximately 20 minutes later." The speed limit for NYC streets is 30MPH.
One witness said that Cioffi had been thrown 30 meters. Some, including a passenger in Anderson's car, said that Cioffi had been jaywalking by crossing Water Street from the middle of the block. Anderson's wife said, "He was driving with a friend. They were talking about the game. It was loud in the car. ...They didn't realize they had hit a person."
Anderson refused a blood alcohol test (LaFarge said his eyes seemed bloodshot and his speech was slurred) and the police took him to a hospital for a court-order blood test, whose results have not been disclosed yet. He was released on $250,000 bail after arraignment, and his lawyer said that his client was not guilty and had a green light.
Cioffi's fiance, William Mosca, spoke to reporters from their Gerritsen Beach home. He told the Post, "Whether he was drinking or not, I'm sure on his side it will be just as tragic if he has a family. It is going to be hard on them as well. I have no animosity, at least he had the decency to come back." He said that Cioffi worked at accounting firm Frenkel & Co., whose offices had been at the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, Cioffi went on a coffee break in the morning before the first tower was hit. Mosca said, "She survived the trade center and she was run down like a dog in the street." After the attack, Cioffi commuted to the firm's Jersey City offices.
Cioffi would have been 60 next week. Mosca was emotional while speaking with reporters; the NY Times reported this heartbreaking detail, "She said, ‘I can’t make up my mind [about birthday plans]. I said, ‘Don’t worry. We still have time.’ ”
