Queens Senior Killed After Being Hit By Driver of a 4,700-Pound SUV

A Bayside senior who was struck by a car driver near her home earlier this week has died — and the driver who killed her remains uncharged.

According to the NYPD, the 43-year-old driver of a gray Chevrolet Traverse was traveling southbound on Corporal Kennedy Street at around 3:20 p.m. on Sunday and struck Lopamudra Desai as she turned the mammoth assault car left onto 43rd Avenue.

Police said Desai, 82, was knocked to the roadway by the force of the collision with the 4,680-pound truckomobile and hit her head on the pavement, suffering severe head and body trauma. The driver stayed on the scene as EMTs took Desai to Queens Hospital, where she died of her injuries two days later, police said on Friday.

The intersection where the fatal crash occurred has all-way stop signs requiring all vehicles to fully brake and proceed when street is clear of pedestrians. Both Corporal Kennedy Street and 43rd Avenue are one-lane roadways.

The 111th Precinct is one of the most dangerous in town, with 3,635 reported crashes, injuring 18 cyclists, 95 pedestrians and 701 drivers, in 2019*, a rate of nearly 10 crashes per day. One pedestrian and one motorist were killed, Streetsblog reported in 2020 after another driver was struck and killed nearby. (Worth noting: the driver in that case also remained on the scene — and to this day has not been hit with any charges, the NYPD confirmed.)

The Chevy Traverse involved in this crash is a notorious machine. Even a largely glowing Car and Driver review noted its “poor rearward visibility.”

 Streetsblog is using 2019 data, as this is the last full year that has reliable crash statistics due to the 2020 pandemic.