Gothamist covers the crash caused by a negligent NYPD police officer that injured Chumli Mendoza and her mother Carmen Cuapio as they crossed Northern Boulevard to school in Jackson Heights. Their family chose Steve Vaccaro to represent them.
A 6-year-old girl was seriously injured while walking to school with her mother on Tuesday morning when they were struck by a driver in a crosswalk on Northern Blvd, according to witnesses. The collision occurred one mile from the spot where Mayor de Blasio signed 11 pieces of street safety legislation into law a day before the mother and her daughter were hit.
The incident happened at 8:30 a.m. while the two were walking to P.S. 228 in East Elmhurst. According to witnesses, the pair were crossing in the crosswalk with the light when they were struck by a black car making a left turn onto Northern Boulevard from 92nd Street.
Cristina Furlong, an activist with street safety group Make Queens Safer, identified the girl as Chunli Mendoza, and says she suffered a collapsed lung, broken rib, dislocated hip and broken leg. Furlong believes that Mendoza will be immobilized for at least six weeks. “We often think of fatalities, but you can imagine that kind of injury over the summer,” Furlong said. Chunli’s mother reportedly suffered a fractured foot, and has since been released from East Elmhurst hospital.
Furlong, who did not witness Tuesday’s collision, tells us the driver of the black car was an off-duty NYPD officer. However, an NYPD spokeswoman tells us that only one person was injured in the collision, and that the vehicle involved was a white pickup truck.
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