A woman is in critical condition when she was struck by an off-duty NYPD lieutenant and thrown over a railing on a Queens overpass, after she went to help a friend who had crashed her car while drunk driving.
The incident unfolded around 5 a.m. Saturday when 22-year-old Samantha Maloney crashed her car into a median along the Whitestone Expressway near Grand Central Parkway. She stopped on the shoulder and called her friend Victoria Garratt, also 22, to come help. At the same time, good Samaritan off-duty EMT Christopher Pierce also pulled over to lend his help.
Cops say that Pierce pulled up in front of Maloney’s disabled car, leaving his car at an angle. An off-duty NYPD lieutenant, whose name hasn't been released, then hit the car with his vehicle, causing a chain reaction of collisions that struck Garratt and sent her tumbling over the overpass and 30 feet onto the ground.
Garratt was taken to New York Presbyterian Queens in cardiac arrest; the Daily News reports that her injuries are so severe, she may be paralyzed for the rest of her life if she survives.
A witness told the Post that Mahoney, who wasn't injured in the crash, "was in a state of shock. You would ask her a question and...she didn’t know what she was saying." She was arrested on drunk driving charges. Sources told the News she could also face reckless endangerment charges: "She put her friend in danger by calling her for help," their source said. "When you get into an accident that leaves you disabled on the side of the road, you call 911—not a friend—for help."
Pierce, 34, suffered a broken arm, but said he didn't regret stopping to help the women:
"We often times put our lives in danger to go out and help somebody else, and there's always that instinct that when you want to help you act - no matter what the circumstances are," he told ABC. "It's the second time I've done this."
The off-duty lieutenant took a breath test at the scene, and was found to have a BAC of .02, below the legal limit; he is not expected to be charged in the incident.
