A 16-year-old girl was killed Saturday morning after being fatally struck by the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban in a hit-and-run in Queens, according to the police.
The girl, identified by the police as Jhoanny Gomez-Alvarez, was intentionally run down by the driver, a 38-year-old man, after the two got into an argument, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter said.
Ms. Gomez-Alvarez and an unidentified 32-year-old woman were leaving an establishment at around 4 a.m. near the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Benham Street in Jackson Heights when they got into a verbal dispute with the driver, the official said.
Soon after, the man drove a gray Suburban SUV directly toward the two women, striking both of them on the sidewalk before fleeing and heading south on Benham Street, the official said.
In surveillance video of the crash obtained by The New York Times, the two women can be seen crossing an intersection in a group with two others. As they step onto the sidewalk, the SUV approaches from behind, careening at high speed into the intersection and onto the curb before smashing into the group.
The impact appears to throw one person into the street, while another is pinned between the vehicle and a pole on the sidewalk.
In the chaotic seconds following the crash, some members of the group can be seen banging on the windows and hood of the SUV. The driver then reverses the vehicle off the curb, knocking over a trash can, and drives into the street. A man in a white shirt who appears to be a member of the group charges at the vehicle with the fallen trash can, the video shows.
Police officers responding to a 911 call arrived at the scene at around 4:15 a.m., followed by emergency medical workers, who pronounced Ms. Gomez-Alvarez dead, the authorities said. The workers took the 32-year-old woman to a nearby hospital in Elmhurst. She was in stable condition on Saturday morning, the police said.
After fleeing the hit-and-run, the gray SUV smashed into the front of a parked white car, which was then pushed into a small tree on the sidewalk, according to the surveillance video. The driver was taken into police custody shortly afterward, according to the official.
The name of the man who the police believe is the driver has not been released. He had not been formally booked on charges as of Saturday morning.
Hussain Almuflahi, who owns a Sama Department Store at the intersection where the crash occurred, said he arrived at the store at 8 a.m. to find that his security cameras had captured the crash.
“They didn’t see it coming,” Mr. Almuflahi said on Saturday.
Outside the store and down the block, the gray S.U.V. sat abandoned on Benham Street, its doors flung open and front bumper smashed. A circle of police tape surrounded it.
Ellen Yan contributed reporting,
Maia Coleman is a reporter for The Times covering the New York Police Department and criminal justice in the New York area.
The post Girl, 16, Struck and Killed by Driver of S.U.V. in Queens, Police Say appeared first on New York Times.
