[UPDATE BELOW] "From shoplifting to murder. How stupid is that?" said one witness of a fatal collision between a getaway car and woman carrying groceries across West 90th Street. Three thieves had just taken packages of allergy medication from an Upper West Side drug store and were being followed by police, when they made a U-turn straight into the 39-year-old victim. Witnesses told the press that the sound of the crash was deafening, and that food items and milk covered the hood of the car.
The trio held up a CVS around 8 p.m. and fled in a Dodge van with police hot on its tail. "[The car] ran all these red lights and hit three cars," one witness told the NY Post. "Then it came to a screeching halt, hitting this lady. All I saw was her laying on the ground lifeless." Schmeer, a California resident, was initially pinned between the getaway vehicle and a parked car. Other witnesses added that the impact "sounded like a bomb" and that the thieves' booty—Zyrtec packets—was strewn up and down the street.
The victim was rushed to St. Luke’s hospital where she died. Meanwhile all three perps ran for their lives. Cops were able to grab one suspect, but after leading police on a high-speed foot race, the other two escaped. "Two of them came running past the [West 91st Street] building," doorman Michael Gonzalez told the NY Daily News, adding that he saw police grab one of them. They are still at large.
UPDATE: The woman was identified as Karen Schmeer, the editor of Errol Morris' documentary films.
