The woman arrested early this week after allegedly running down a man sitting in a walker with her car outside a Queens deli, killing him, was indicted Thursday before a grand jury on murder charges, prosecutors announced.
Kiani Phoenix, 26, was arrested on Monday for charges she allegedly ran over a 59-year-old bystander following a brawl she got into with another woman at the Rohan Deli on Beach 20th Street in Far Rockaway before 7 a.m. last Saturday.
“The blatant disregard for human life allegedly displayed by the defendant is incomprehensible. An entire neighborhood continues to mourn the senseless loss of a community member because of these criminal actions," District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Friday.
Prosecutors alleged Phoenix fled in her vehicle after striking the bystander, but not before hitting a second pedestrian in a wild escalation of the earlier fight -- all of which was caught on camera.
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Video from inside the deli appeared to show the two women get into a shouting match before moving outside, where their fight escalated and another video angle captured fists flying on the crowded sidewalk in front of the store.
Punches were thrown and a wig was ripped off, but the violence didn't end when the two women separated. One of the women, who police believe to be Phoenix, climbed into a black Honda Accord parked along the sidewalk and backs the car a few feet, allegedly in an effort to jump the curb and hit the other woman, NYPD officials said.
Instead, the woman slammed into 59-year-old Milton Storch, who had been sitting on his walker outside the doors of the deli. He was thrown to the ground and his walker was heavily damaged. He was pronounced dead at St. John's Hospital. Another 37-year-old man had also been taken to the hospital for minor injuries to his back.
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Phoenix initially took off in the car before abandoning it and fleeing on foot, police said. She turned herself into police in Far Rockaway on Monday.
A lawyer representing Phoenix said the fight between her and the other woman stemmed from longstanding abuse by the latter's brother.
"A lot of this could have been avoided had the police made an arrest on the 10 complaints [Phoenix] made against [the brother]," Maryvn Kornberg, the defendant's lawyer, said.
