Last night, a 57-year-old woman was killed in Staten Island when the driver of a SUV slammed into her around 9:50 p.m. Police say that Clara Almazo had been crossing Cary Avenue at Elizabeth Street with her 8-year-old grandson, on their way home from Holy Thursday church services—witnesses say and surveillance footage shows Almazo pushing the child out of the way before the car hit her. A family friend told the Daily News, "That was heroic of her, thinking about the boy until the last second. They were coming from church. They are very religious people."
Another witness said of the incident, "The lady was on the floor, everybody was there screaming. I seen the lady on the floor, with her hair on the floor, and she looked knocked out. And the boy, right here on the corner, he was just shaking, sitting on the floor, look traumatized." And the homeowner whose surveillance camera caught the incident on film (he turned it over to the police) said that Almazo was thrown 20 feet, "A black SUV hit her, and you see her belongings, like food, going up the air... You can see that she pushes the boy out of the way." Almazo was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The driver, Brian McGurk, eventually turned himself into the police and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. Some witnesses characterized him as speeding; he may face additional charges.
