Mother & Child Struck by Reversing Minivan

Left: the minivan that struck the mother and child.

Brooklyn, NY — This afternoon at around 1:30pm a mother was crossing East New York Ave. between Kingston and Brooklyn and was struck and injured by a reversing Minivan. The mother, who was holding her infant baby girl in an ‘Infant Carrier’ on the way to her car, was suddenly struck by a minivan that was reversing.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

The mother suffered an injury to her leg and as result dropped the carrier and the infant sustained a contusion [black and blue mark] to her head. 3 Shomrim members, who were working down the block, witnessed the incident and immediately rushed over to give assistance. One member who is a certified EMT stabilized the mother while the other tended to the infant and the third member had called Hatzalah.

Moments after the call was placed the first Hatzalah member arrived on scene and took over treating the patients, and a minute later an ambulance arrived along with another Hatzalah member, they treated the Mother and Child then transported them to Kings County Hospital for further treatment.

Police filled out an accident report and it was unknown if any summonses were issued.

CrownHeights.info would like to commend Shomrim and Hatzalah for their quick response and action!

At the same time we would like to reiterate what we have said quite a few times in the past, reversing down a block is the most reckless and dangerous thing a driver can do, in the past there have been incidents where victims barely made it out alive of such incidents. Drivers please take note and take the extra few minutes to go around the block rather then take the risk of C”V endangering a pedestrians life.

A Hatzalah member carrying the child to the ambulance in order to be transported with the mother.

19 Comments

  • Point to Ponder

    Webby, while I understand you placed this article under the “Accidents” category im not sure it 100% belongs there. See like you said, reversing down a block, while the driver does not have the intention of striking someone, nevertheless its still [quote:] “the most reckless and dangerous thing a driver can do”.

    Just an interesting point to ponder.

    Drivers please heed the advice, take the extra minute and avoid the risk involved!

  • Confused

    I am a bit confused about one thing.

    i can understand a little if we are talkign about a block from Montgomery and Union Street where its a 1 way street why someone might want to back-up. WHY WHY WHY would someopne want to back up on a street like ENY which is a 2 way street. why cant the driver simply make a U or K turn and do it all legally and not endanger anyone elses life.?¿ ?¿ ?¿ ?¿

  • RBA

    I think the license plate of the perp. should be shown. He/she did something extremely stupid and life endangering – let us all see who the idiot is!

  • YL

    by the way “confused”… a U turn in the middle of the street is technically illegal! please check youre DMV manual

  • ch driver

    To confused:

    The reason people reverse down streets, sometimes at speed, is because they are too damn lazy or rushed to drive ’round the block!!

    As for yooies or k turns…probably there was another parked car in the way…maybe double parked.

    How are Mom & baby? Refuah Shleima.

    BTW…hope the driver was ticketed, has to pay medical expenses etc etc. And I hope the driver has a conscience & it kicked into overdrive!

  • Joey

    While I agree to above. pedesrians should also take the time and cross at street lights.

  • Yee

    I see cars making U turns and block traffic on this block ALL THE TIME. It’s dangerous, please don’t risk lives! Just go around the corner!

  • concerned

    At the same time we would like to reiterate what we have said quite a few times in the past, reversing down a block is the most reckless and
    YES, YES, YES,YES,YES, YES! TO THE BELOW STATEMENT
    dangerous thing a driver can do, in the past there have been incidents where victims barely made it out alive of such incidents. Drivers please take note and take the extra few minutes to go around the block rather then take the risk of C”V endangering a pedestrians life.

    also, to RBA:
    shame and blame don’t work as well as educating others. Fear does not work as effectively (as we learn in Chassidus) as other methods.

  • you know who

    hey fdny (paramedic “RABBI” danny (gonzalowitz) you look like your doing a great job watching hatzola, I thought I trained you better.

  • A pedestrian

    Cars do dangerous things- reckless too. But mothers please do not stand so close to the curb with carriages. Never cross between parked cars or in the middle of a block. Remember when a truck turns a corner it’s back wheels are closer to the curb than the front wheels and it may not see the person on the corner or close to the curb. Never cross the road before the cars stop at the red light. We never know which car is going to speed up to get the light. Never assume a car can see you always assume they cannot!!

  • Tzvi

    As a driver who sometimes legally backs into a parking space it would be nice if pedestrians would also be careful and aware that there are some blind spots. This is no excuse for carelessness on anyones part, but just please be more aware we sometimes share the same road but cannot both be in the same space.

  • to all the above

    the way to theach someone is not by criticizing them the best way to do it is to encourage them to be more cerful

    i just hope that the mother and baby r ok and to the mother and baby and all those who need a refua shelaima i hope it will come ass soon as possible

  • SDR

    I agree with Tzvi.

    The details of why the driver was backing up are not in the article and therefore we can’t put blame (especially not call names.)

    There are times that a driver is permitted to back up (the gear shifts into Reverse for a reason).

    The important thing is that everyone should try to be just a little bit more careful.

  • witness

    just to clarify the driver was paralel parking his vehicle at the time and the woman walked it to the street the driver was not stam driving backwords down the street

  • anonymous

    actually i was there and that is completely untrue about the driver paralell parking! he was halfway up the block and reversed about 5 car lengths and then struck the mother and baby. the driver was completely in the wrong and seemed like he completely was not even looking in his rearview mirror! so shame on whoever wrote about “the driver was not stam driving backwards down the street”, because he was!

  • To RBA

    what you said is very inconsiderate. If the driver would seee this, how do you think he would feel. Besides, you don’t have to use offensive language to express your feelings
    And besides, either way they aren’t going to show the license plate…