June 25, 2021 By Christian Murray
An unlicensed driver has been arrested for fatally striking a woman in a Whitestone crosswalk while she was crossing a street with a 19-month child in her arms, police said.
Angelo Graci, a 43-year-old man from Whitestone, was driving a 2015 GMC pickup truck when he hit a 58-year-old woman who was carrying a young child in a crosswalk at around 10:20 a.m. Thursday.
The victim, identified as Insook Rol of Whitestone, was in the crosswalk at 150th Street and the Cross Island Parkway service road when she was struck.
She was transported to New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Queens where she was declared dead, while the child survived and is in stable condition at Long Island Jewish Cohen’s Children’s Hospital.
Police have charged Graci with failing to yield to a pedestrian, failure to exercise due care and for aggravated unlicensed operator.
A preliminary investigation determined that Rol was struck while walking northbound on 150 Street in the crosswalk while crossing the Cross Island Parkway eastbound service road from south to north.
Graci hit her while attempting to turn left onto the Cross Island Parkway service road eastbound from 150 Street. Graci remained on the scene following the crash.
The NYPD said that the investigation remains ongoing.