A driver struck and killed a three-year-old girl and injured two of her younger brothers and her mother in a Harlem crash Thursday evening, according to police.
The 40-year-old motorist was heading south in a Nissan SUV on Malcom X Boulevard and made a left turn onto W. 135th Street, when he ran into Jaynelyse Valdez from New Rochelle and her family, who were crossing the street with the walk sign on just before 7:40 p.m., the NYPD said.
The driver brought Valdez to NYC Health and Hospitals/Harlem across the street, where she was pronounced dead, according to a police spokeswoman, which Gothamist first reported.
Emergency services brought her two-year-old and four-month-old brothers and their 37-year-old mom to the hospital for minor injuries. Police did not arrest the driver.
The horrific collision comes amid crisis levels of traffic violence killing and maiming pedestrians in the city this year, and deaths on the roads soaring to highs that eclipse the toll of shootings.
Motorists have killed 17 pedestrians this year, 55 percent above average at this point in the year. Valdez is the 115th child to die in a crash since the city launched its Vision Zero safety initiative under former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014.
"Last night, a mother experienced the very worst day of her life. While she was crossing the street with her three young children, a driver hit two of them and killed her 3-year-old daughter," said Elizabeth Adams, Co-Interim Executive Director at Transportation Alternatives. "She watched as her daughter died in the hospital across the street. Harlem deserves better from its leaders, and Harlem residents deserve truly safe streets."
The deadly corner's design encourages dangerous driving, thanks to the two wide four-lane roadways intersecting and scant infrastructure to help people traverse the long crossings safely, such as pedestrian islands or curb extensions.
There have been 14 reported crashes at that intersection over the past year, injuring 11 people — nearly one a month — according to city stats.
This summer has been off to a grim start for street safety. Just last week on the Fourth of July, an allegedly drunk driver smashed his pickup truck into a Lower East Side park, killing three people and injuring several more at a holiday gathering. A fourth person hit in that crash succumbed to her wounds Tuesday.
Meanwhile, city officials have begun blaming pedestrians for their own vehicular slayings, pointing fingers at New Yorkers who cross the street where they need to, while opposing moves to legalize so-called "jaywalking," despite police disproportionately targeting people of color for the widespread behavior, and little evidence that criminalization keeps people safe from carnage.
