The U.S. Secret Service: When they're not banging prostitutes, they're running people over with their cars. The latest black eye for the scandal-scarred agency occurred yesterday afternoon when an undercover secret service agent fatally struck a woman crossing the Atlantic Avenue at Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn. Victim Maria Tripp, 47, was on her way to pick up her granddaughter from daycare, accompanied by her 19-year-old nephew and 12-year-old daughter, when the driver of a black Chevrolet Impala slammed into her. A witness tells the Daily News, "She went up like 50 feet in the air."
A Secret Service spokesman tells the Post, "The Secret Service agent is one of our personnel from the New York field office." The unidentified driver stayed at the scene, and has not been charged—police say he had the green light. Tripp's brother tells NY1, "They were crossing the street, a speeder, a car came by speeding. She didn't know which way to move, which happens to anybody sometimes. She got hit. The fellow she was with grabbed the two kids and got them to safety."
Other witnesses tell the News that Tripp was crossing against the light and was trying to make it across as the Impala sped toward them. Her nephew was able to get her daughter out of harm's way, but Tripp, a mother of five, was too late. According to another witness, the Impala ended up on the sidewalk with both tires blown out, at which point the driver "got out, stood over [Tripp] and said, ‘I’m on the job, I’m on the job.’ "
