The driver who fatally struck a 58-year-old woman at 9:50 p.m. who was returning from Holy Thursday Mass turned himself into police three hours after the incident on Staten Island's Cary Avenue. According to the Staten Island Advance, Brian McGurk, 40, had a lawyer with him when he went to the police and "told officers he had 'struck something' but was unsure what, according to reports. He was arrested at 2:45 a.m."
The victim, Clara Almazo, was crossing the street and managed to push her grandson, Brian Herrera-Ramirez, 8, out of the way to avoid McGurk's SUV. Witnesses have suggested he was speeding (and a man whose surveillance camera caught the incident said that it seemed as though the impact sent Almazo flying 10-20 feet). Almazo's brother said, "I don’t know why he left. If you have an accident, you don’t leave the scene of that accident." A witness told the Post, “I thought it was two cars hitting each other — it was that loud."
McGurk, who was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, was at Rikers Island briefly, because he was unable to post the $50,000 bail (the Department of Corrections website says he's been discharged). The Advance reports that "his lawyer, Matthew Zuntag, had no comment, except to tell reporters his client is a lifelong Islander and has no record." McGurk was in the news last year: He had been paying $850/month in lifetime alimony to his ex-wife, because a car wreck prevented her from working, but then noticed recent photographs of her bellydancing. A judge agreed to end the alimony.
