The woman killed by a hit-and-run truck driver at Union Square last week has been identified as Roxana Sorina Buta.
Last Thursday at approximately 1:30 a.m., Buta, 21, was walking east across Broadway at 14th Street, in the crosswalk and with the light, when an eastbound dump truck driver made a right turn and ran her over, according to reports. The driver continued south on Broadway.
Buta, an aspiring actress who came to the U.S. from Romania at age 11, was on her way home to East Harlem from her waitressing job. Cristina Oprea, Buta's mother, has asked the driver to come forward. The Daily News reports that NYPD has told Oprea that there is no surveillance video of the truck.
Pending corrective action from Albany, motorists in New York have strong incentives to flee the scene of a crash. As we've written before, even when they surrender or are caught by police, the current system is weighted to favor drivers who kill. It's likely that the driver who struck Buta would face only a misdemeanor and would see little to no time in jail. In many cases, all a driver has to do to satisfy police and prosecutors is say he didn't see the victim.
Roxana Sorina Buta was killed at the intersection of the 6th, 9th and 13th Precincts. To voice your concerns about area traffic safety directly to local commanding officers, go to the next community council meeting. Community council meeting and contact information may be found on each precinct's respective web page.
