UPDATE: Two Pedestrians Struck, One Killed, By Driver on Deadly Church Avenue
File photo: Dave Colon
Two more pedestrians were struck — one fatally — by a driver on deadly Church Avenue on Saturday, the latest death in a year with double-digit increases in road carnage.
According to the NYPD, the driver of a Cadillac was headed westbound on Church at around 3:20 p.m. when he struck the two pedestrians as they tried to cross the avenue at E. Fourth St. Sixty-year-old Olga Feldman was killed and her 72-year-old husband, whom police did not identify, was injured in the crash. The driver remained on the scene and was not charged. An NYPD spokesman declined to give any additional information, saying the investigation is ongoing.
It is unclear if the driver was speeding. But Cadillac says its vehicles have "high-performance features that do not just look ahead, but quickly overtake wherever you are headed." WPIX11 obtained video showing the driver failing to move through a green light — as if distracted or inattentive. Then, when the light turned red, he drove straight into the couple. The clip shows that the car is bearing out-of-state plates.
Church Avenue is inaccurately named — because pedestrians who walk on it don't have a prayer.
Saturday's crash was just one block from another fatal strike by a driver in July. And it's about three blocks away from the spot at Coney Island Avenue where Maria Del Carmen Porras-Hernandez was killed as she was crossing inside the marked crosswalk, also in July.
The 15-block stretch of Church Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and Ocean Parkway is notoriously busy and dangerous. Since Jan. 1, 2018, there have been 318 crashes, injuring 12 cyclists, 33 pedestrians (two fatally) and 37 motorists.
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