The family of a Long Island grandmother fatally struck by a car while she was walking home from the supermarket in April was directed to pay more than $6,000 to fix the vehicle that killed her, according to a published report.
Anna Cedeno, 70, was heading to a bus stop on Old Country Road in Westbury after picking up some vitamins and a rotisserie chicken on April 2 when a 2012 BMW driven by a 57-year-old physical therapist rammed into her. She died at a nearby hospital a few hours later.
The driver was not charged in the incident because the police report said Cedeno wasn’t in a crosswalk or at a traffic light when she was hit. Cedeno’s family wanted to sue the driver for negligence anyway, but before that process could begin they received a letter from the driver’s insurance company, indicating that they were responsible for repairing the damage to the car.
“Our investigation shows that your client was responsible for the accident,” the letter obtained by The New York Post reads. “We now look forward to your client’s estate for payment of the damages to our policyholder’s vehicle.”
The letter requested a payment of $6,245.09.
An attorney for Cedeno’s family told the Post that insurers do not usually try to collect damages from the victims of accidents, either fatal or nonfatal.
When a Post reporter contacted the insurance company in the case, the insurer abandoned its collection effort and issued a statement that expressed its sympathies to the Cedeno family and said the claims representatives should not have sent a letter seeking reimbursement for damages to the car.
