Posted to Accidents on

Please say Tehilim for Yaffa Zahava bas Sarah

Crown Heights, Brooklyn — At around 10:15pm last night came the chilling calls for help from a patrolling Shomrim member saying that a pedestrian was struck by a bus and Hatzalah and 911 should be called. The member then began administering first aid to the victim and in attempt to stop the profuse bleeding he took his shirt off and used it.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

Yiddishe Woman Critically Injured by a City Bus

Please say Tehilim for Yaffa Zahava bas Sarah

Crown Heights, Brooklyn — At around 10:15pm last night came the chilling calls for help from a patrolling Shomrim member saying that a pedestrian was struck by a bus and Hatzalah and 911 should be called. The member then began administering first aid to the victim and in attempt to stop the profuse bleeding he took his shirt off and used it.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

Moments later Hatzalah Paramedics and EMT’s arrived on scene and began treating the woman who sustained very serious injuries to both her legs, the woman did not loose conciseness and her chilling cries of pain and calls for help were heard throughout the intersection.

The incident took place as the woman was on her way home and was crossing Lefferts Ave and Troy Ave when a bus made a right turn from Troy and struck the woman and crushed her legs under its rear tires.

In a conversation with the bus driver he told CrownHeights.info that he did not know he hit her until he heard yelling and other witnesses run towards the bus. A co-worker of the bus driver told us that the driver has been driving for the MTA for over 20 years.

The patient was finally placed in the stretcher and then wheeled into the Hatzalah ambulance and with all the commotion and emergency response vehicles on scene there was no clear route for the ambulance to head to the hospital, upon seeing this one of the Shomrim coordinators ordered a few member to clear up traffic on Troy between Lefferts and E New York and thus opened a route for Hatzalah to transport to Kings County Hospital.

R. Avrohom Lieder of Ahavas Chesed was on standby there with a team of doctors awaiting the arrival of the patient and began immediately treating her. She then underwent surgery on her legs. She was listed in critical condition.

It took over 50 minutes for the initial police unit to arrive at the scene of the accident, this was after all other emergency medical workers had left and the street which had a very large blood pool was hosed down. The NYPD’s A.I.S. [Accident Investigation Squad] was ordered and arrived on scene about a half hour later in order to determine what had happened.

A very big Thank You and Yashar Koach goes to the Shomrim member who was the first to begin treating her with his shirt and to Hatzalah for their amazing response time and to all other Shomrim members that cleared up traffic and enabled Hatzalah to transport the victim to the hospital.

NOTE: Due to the extreme graphic nature of the pictures we could not publish them and amongst those published we blurred them to protect the privacy of the victim.


Victims blood on the buses tire.


The shirt of the Shomrim Member which he used to stop the victims bleeding


Accessing data from the buses ‘black box’

Related Articles

53 Comments

  • ch resident

    Hashem yishmor! May she recover fully and speedily from this terrible accident!

  • chrup!

    find out her name so we can say tehillim for her. she should have a speedy recovery and get through this ok!

  • Refuan Shelamah

    This poor woman. If anyone knows her first name and mothers name, please post it so we can say tehillim.

  • Horrified

    Horrible! I don’t care how long this bus driver has been working for the MTA. The buses are always cutting off people and think they own the road!! I hope he gets punished big time! SHe should have a refuah shleimah!

  • so sad

    heart wrenching story my brother was there he heard the cries god please help her
    Rifuah Sheliama

  • refuah shleima!

    so sad-especially since she was conscious through it all and aware of the pain

  • WOW

    She should have a full refuah shelamah. And thank god CH has the shomrim members that always seem to be the first ppl there to help.

  • Bus Driver

    “Horrible! I don’t care how long this bus driver has been working for the MTA. The buses are always cutting off people and think they own the road!! I hope he gets punished big time! She should have a refuah shleimah!”

    As a (school) bus driver I must beg to differ, the abuse that we get on the road is unbelievable. People cut off (all) buses all the time putting them self’s and every body on the bus in danger. People are always crossing the street in front of the bus (when the bus has the right of way). Don’t assume that just because it is a big heavy bus that it is going slow, don’t forget that the stopping/brake time takes much longer.
    From what I hear, it was not the drivers fault. I had people crossing suddenly in front of me when making a turns with out any consideration of there safety. If he was driving a bus for 20 years them I’m sure he’s a very good driver.
    The women should have a Refuah Shleimah! The driver should not get punished (if it’s ta’ka not his fault), believe me he did not sleep good last night.

  • A Kolel Yungerman

    May Hashem send her a Refuah Shleima right away, right now.

  • BORUCH B.

    TO ALL THE PEPOLE THAT HELPED, A VERY BIG THANK YOU!! MAY SHE HAVE A REFUAH SHLEIMA NOW.
    — BY THE WAY WOULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN BETTER IF SHE WAS PUT TO “SLEEP” DURING THE ACCIDENT, RATHER THAN HAVE TO FEEL ALL THE PAIN ?

  • on the block

    She should have a refuah shleimah! i live the block few time almost got hit by the bus so i never cross in begin of block out of the cross line because it blind stop for them and when cross in cross walk I all see if a 12 bus about to turn it very small block to turn on to so I think they should change block bus turn on to wider block so b able turn safer.

  • Wanting to use a name for Tehillim

    I don’t understand how we, as such a close community, are still sitting here 16 hours after it happened and we don’t have a name for Tehillim. If this is the patient’s wish then her family should convince her that being private about this is not the way. We don’t need last names, most of us won’t know her, but PLEASE, someone get us a name to say tehillim for.

  • Road rules

    Dear Bus Driver: A bus does NOT have the right away to make a turn. It’s always the pedestrian’s right of way, especially if they are in the crosswalk already! School bus drivers are a lot better than city buses. THese drivers are TOO aggresive and don’t care about other cars/pedestrians. They just want to stick to their schedule!

  • Mushkie

    To Bus Driver, actually it was the driver’s fault because she had the right of way as she was crossing while he was making a right turn. It is true that people put themselves in danger by crossing at the wrong times, but the bus drivers should be careful while turning and check for pedestrians.
    she should have a refuah shleimah!

  • Anonymous

    Boruch B:

    You cannot do such a thing to a patient at the scene, to put a patient to ‘sleep’ is only done after preparing the patient and is only done for surgery.

    Tehilim:

    I added it to the article at 12:20pm when it was sent to me.

  • To Bus Driver

    As a driver of over forty years my experience with bus drivers both public and school bus drivwers is that they are quite aggresive.

    I have been pushed over to the otherside of the street by busses. A bus made an illegal turn im Manhaatan smashed my door and ran off (luckily I caught him).

    When I was learning driving they told me beware of bus drivers they think they own the road.

    Many a time a yellow bus almost hit me here in CH.

    The main thing – if your are crossing the street <and have the right of way> and a bus is turning – beware! Rather be alive than be right.

    Unfortunately bus drivers just don’t care.

  • Cee

    Bus Driver,

    I’m sure this is a pet peeve of yours considering your profession, but I have been cutoff way too many times by aggressive city bus drivers to be able to agree with you. There were plenty of times where I was driving at normal speed, not even turning and the city bus STARTED pulling out of its stop literally INTO MY CAR. I’ve been cut off by city buses at red lights, and when walking have had similar experiences.

    Many city bus drivers do think since they are big, people and cars should get out of THEIR way. It’s wrong and I wish the city would crack down on bad driver.

    I hope this woman has a refuah sheleimah, this is a very tragic story.

  • Dangerous Corner

    I was there (i live on this corner), it was totally heart wrenching, i had to move away, may she have a refuah shleima but my main point is that on numerous occasions i have had to run at this crossing because i have been honked at by BUS DRIVERS, who are irritated that they have to slow down when turning. No excuse for that.

  • Suggestion

    The residents of CH should take down details of reckless bus drivers both city and yellow. A site should made to post this information and they should also be reported to both the bus companies and the police.

    Of course the infformation should obtained in a resopsible manner that can be verified. A clear honest story is always the best.

    This way the busses will know to be careful at least in CH.

    We as an organized community can be effective.

  • to chrup! and others

    if people would look on top of the article you would see that it says her name and mothers name

  • suggestion

    btw, buses should have a special beep (not jsut the one on the wheel) that they press EVERY TIME THEY ARE MAKING A TURN! this will help – because you will hear a honk, knowing that a bus is close by and wants to turn and you willl check twice before crossing. how abou tthey try taht!!

  • Bus drives fault

    By the way I heard (from a reliable source) that the bus was going a little to fast and it was totally the bus drivers fault, also I would like to point out that this intersection is very dangerous & Empire & Albany is also because when cars turn from Empire onto Albany a lot of times they can not see the people walking.

  • a fellow yid

    Not did I say, and will continue to say tehillim. But I pledged any merits I had to her full and immediate recovery…may Hashem help (and help us all!)

  • in response to:to chrup! and others wrot

    Don’t be such a know-it-all. If you were in tune, you would know that the tehillim name was only added to this article on the top, several hours after the article was originally posted.

  • Sametchke

    She should havde a Refua Shlaime!!!

    My question is why does no one care that it takes the police so long to show up? This happans time and again adn No one says nothing!!! There shoudl be a demonstration in front of 71!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • ANONYMOUS.

    WOW. Bus drivers should be more carefull these days. Congrats to the shomrim member who stopped the bleeding!!! Refuah Sh’laimah to the injured victim FYI: her name is: YAFFA ZAHAVA BAT SARA.
    OYF SIMCHOS

  • reliable source

    Refuah shlaima? she lost both legs R”L.
    no words can describe the pain. nothing

  • stop blaming

    why do we have to blame everyone whoseevers fault it was definatly dint get a good night sleep lets just pray for the best!

  • Mendy

    To Sametchka, because the police are to lazy to come fast or they are busy eating as usual

  • Always late

    The police do absolutely nothing for us, come on coming 50 minutes late & if we are lucky by a crime they come a half hour instead of 50 minutes.

  • ouch!!!!!

    she should have a refuah shleimah right away!!! when i heard about this, a huge chill ran up my spine and i was freaking out!!! the poor lady!!!!! thats horrible news

  • MoneyHungry119

    Sue… are you ridiculous..so she will have money, but if you ar in such a bad shape, what good is the money anyway!!!
    Let us all hope we can make money in better ways!
    Refuah Shlaimah

  • THIS MUST STOP!!!

    I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT,THAT I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF TIMES WHEN BUS DRIVERS WAIT AT A RED LIGHT ,AS SOON AS THE LIGHT TERNS GREEN,THEY RUSH THE TERN! THIS IS NOT LEGAL.IF YOU ARE TO WATCH A BUS GOING DOWN EMPIRE TOWARDS KINGSTON,AND HE HAS A RED LIGHT LIGHT.IF HE IS THE FIRST TO MAKE THE LEFT,7 TIMES OUT OF 10 HE WOULD TRY AND MAKE THE LEFT UP KINGSTON AVE WITH OUT WAITING FOR THE RIGHT A WAY!! HE MUST FIRST WAIT FOR THE ONCOMING CAR TO PASS!!! I HAVE SEEN THIS TIME,AND TIME AGAIN!!! 7 MONTH AGO AT THAT CORNER THE BUS RUSHED THE LIGHT,MISSING MY CAR BY A THIN HAIR!!! THIS MUST STOP!!!!

  • dont know it all

    she will not sue for one reason the mta will offer her a settlement before she even thinks of taking them to court

  • Need more cops

    maybe the police were late because they were busy with the mugging at 770.

  • sad

    this women would come to 770 every day and would stand and daven .its horrific that she cant do what she enjoyed so much anymore

  • Refua Shlaime

    since she lost both her feet and one of her legs, she is going to need all the help she can get. Her life is totally changing. So if that means she needs to sue, then lets help her do that. she won’t be getting rich of it.
    Lets keep saying tehilim and may she have a Refua Shlaime

  • chaya kugel

    The woman should have a Refua shlaime right now, and the bus driver should learn his lesson.

  • Pow

    As someone that work in the Crown Heights community driving 7 out of 8 hours of work both bus drivers and pedestrians walks as if they own the road. This was a trgic accident and may the victim have a smoothe recovery. But at the same time pedestrians ahve to be careful when crossing the street. Yes they have the right of way on the pedestrian crossing but it is there that most pedestrians are hit. And from what I heard, (I was on the scene) from eye witnesses was that she was hit by the back half of the bus and had her legs crushed by the rear wheels, the bus driver said he never saw her. So take it for what it is we all need to be carefull its not about who have the right of way

  • someone

    “…you cannot do such a thing…to put a patient to ‘sleep’…”. Why not?

    What about some Morphine?

    (Webby wrote:
    Boruch B:

    You cannot do such a thing to a patient at the scene, to put a patient to ‘sleep’ is only done after preparing the patient and is only done for surgery.)

  • Refuah Shelamah

    Pow is right. The article says under its rear tires..

    Refuah Shelamah

  • ch resident

    the police are soooooooo lazy!!!
    50 min.?!?!
    this is really unaccepable!
    we should make a whole sceen in front of 71st pc. and put them in thier place once and for all!