What to Know
- A 70-year-old woman died when she was hit by a car at Madison Avenue and East 79th Street Friday afternoon
- Police say a grand Land Rover was trying to turn onto East 79th Street when it mounted the curb and hit the woman
- The driver stayed on the scene; no arrest has been made
An 84-year-old woman was killed when a driver jumped a curb and hit her on the Upper East Side Friday afternoon, police say.
It's not clear what caused the gray Land Rover to plow onto the block at Madison Avenue and East 79th Street. A doorman on East 79th Street said the victim had just stepped onto the sidewalk when the SUV, which was going north on Madison, turned left onto 79th.
Witness Terell Greene said, "She was a little twisted up. It was graphic."
The SUV kept going, plowing into a sidewalk shelter. The doorman says the driver, who stayed at the scene, blamed her brakes.
"That's what she said when she come out from the car, she said, 'Oh, I have a brake problem,'" said the doorman. "But the car is a brand-new car, so I don't know if it's true or not."
Police said the victim, identified as 84-year-old Nahid Taghinia-Milani, died at the scene.
Local
The driver stayed at the scene; no charges have been filed.
The scene was eerily similar to another deadly accident on the same exact corner four years ago, when an overturned taxi cab landed on top of a woman. Neighbors blame the volume of traffic on the crosstown corridor, which they call notoriously dangerous.
"It's just one of the corners every mother who goes to school here wants to avoid," said one neighbor.
