A hit-and-run driver mortally injured a woman in speed camera obstructionist Simcha Felder’s State Senate district two days after the city was forced to shut the cameras off.
Razija Dreskovic was crossing Avenue P at E. 16th Street in Midwood at around 11 p.m. last Friday, July 27, when the motorist, traveling westbound on the avenue, hit her with a red sedan and sped away, according to NYPD.
Dreskovic, 57, sustained head and leg injuries and was transported to Maimonides Medical Center in critical condition. She died on July 31, CBS and Bklyner report.
The driver is still at large.
Since 2016, Felder has collected $8,000 in campaign contributions from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the largest union of uniformed NYPD cops and the only organized opposition to automated speed enforcement.
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan allowed Felder's Cities Committee to bottle up legislation that would have expanded and extended NYC's life-saving speed camera program. Felder was ostensibly holding out for a deal that would have traded cameras for armed cops at every city school. Whatever the stated reason, Felder's role in spiking speed cameras ingratiates him with the PBA.
Activated in 2012, Felder’s Senate campaign committee reported its first PBA contribution, of $5,000, in June 2016, months before his most recent reelection. The following legislative session, Felder was instrumental in killing a bill to double the number of speed cameras and extend the program until 2022. The PBA gave Felder another $1,000 last September.
Felder received an additional $2,000 from the PBA in March of this year, according to his latest campaign contribution report.
The 70th Precinct, where Dreskovic was killed, tickets around 84 speeding drivers in an average month. Even if cameras wouldn't have prevented the crash that killed Dreskovic, their absence allows speeding drivers to terrorize Felder's constituents with impunity.
“I’ve lived here like 13 years, and there have been a number of accidents on this road over the years that I’ve lived here,” local resident Katherine Mango told CBS. “The drivers up and down this road are pretty aggressive, and I constantly have to make sure that they actually stop when they’re supposed to, so I can go safely with my two kids.”
“They’re always racing, day and night," said Rosa Hernandez. "It’s crazy. In the morning and nighttime, they don’t stop. You have to be careful when you cross the street.”
A request for comment from Felder about the death of Razija Dreskovic was unreturned as of this writing.
