Driver jumps curb in Jamaica, killing kid and senior on sidewalk

A driver killed two people in Jamaica after she jumped the curb near the intersection of 164th Street and Jamaica Avenue.

Screenshot via Google Maps

By Rachel Vick

A driver behind the wheel of a Range Rover jumped a curb in Jamaica Friday evening, killing an 8-year-old girl and a 65-year-old woman as they walked on the sidewalk.

The driver lost control of the vehicle before crashing into Yuniang Cong, 65, and Jashanty Cole, 8, and hitting a pole. She remained on the scene, according to the NYPD.

“Everybody was crying, you know. I mean, people that didn’t even know, people in the stores, there wasn’t a dry eye,” a witness told CBS. 

The accident took place at the intersection of 164 Street and Jamaica Avenue, near a section of road slated to become a bus-only route to limit traffic congestion and increase pedestrian safety.

Transit safety advocates called on the city to speed up the busway plan in light of the most recent deaths there.

“Two more innocent New Yorkers are dead because of a transportation system which puts speed ahead of safety, and a culture which celebrates driving big, fast, and powerful vehicles,” said Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris. “This is what happens when Vision Zero is reduced to a slogan.”

No charges have been filed and the investigation remains ongoing.