ONE DEAD, ONE HURT IN SEPARATE CAR ACCIDENTS IN QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
A 31-year-old man heading to a Queens pizzeria with a pal was mowed down by a teenage hit-and-run driver and then struck again by a second vehicle, police said.
Dominik Winnick is in very critical condition at New York Hospital Queens after twice being slammed into as he crossed 108th Street at 63rd Road in Forest Hills at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 27, 2010.
"I was bending down to tie my laces. I just heard a car brake," said Winnick's pal, Maciej Zabierek, 30. "Then I looked up, and my friend was in the air.''
Winnick, 31, was first hit by a Nissan Rogue SUV driven by Avraham Mullokandov, 17, southbound on 108th Street, police said. That impact threw him into the lane of traffic traveling in the other direction..
"The car drove over him and kept going," according to Zabierek.
Mullokandov, 17, fled the scene, police said.
Winnick's legs were then run over by a Nissan Maxima sedan traveling northbound on 108th Street, Zabierek said. That (second) motorist remained on the scene and has not been charged.
"I put my hand on his chest. I was telling him not to give up," Zabierek said. "I was just terrified for him."
"He's my only child. He's a very good boy," said a sobbing Alina Winnick, 59, who kept vigil at the hospital yesterday with her husband, Zigmunt, 65.
"Doctors say it's no good. Maybe he has a few days, then he'll die. His brain is completely damaged."
Winnick emigrated from Poland 23 years ago and is a maintenance worker for 1 Beekman Place, a luxury co-op in Manhattan.
About 30 minutes after the crash, Mullokandov returned to the scene and was arrested, police said.
He is charged with vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident and violating the terms of his restricted license, police added.
A few hours earlier on Saturday (November 27, 2010), two cars collided at a busy intersection near the Staten Island Expressway, claiming the life of 82-year-old Mary Toppino, of Hunter Avenue, Midland Beach. Mrs. Toppino was pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital.
There was no criminality suspected in the 8:40 p.m. crash on Hylan Blvd. at Steuben St., police said. The 82-year-old woman was riding in the back right seat of a Mercedes-Benz that was traveling south on Hylan Blvd.
A Pontiac -- which carried a 60-year-old driver and a 62-year-old passenger -was heading in the opposite direction and tried to make a left turn at the intersection, but crashed into the Mercedes, striking the vehicle's right side, police said.
All others involved in the crash were listed in stable condition this morning, though the male could be seen being extricated from the Mercedes by emergency officials last night and loaded into a stretcher.
Neighbors lamented the perils of a dangerous intersection that has seen more than its share of accidents.
In August, a 21-year-old Fayad Madwa died when she was ejected from her vehicle in a two-car crash. Last year, 25-year-old Brian Guariglia was killed making the same turn when his 2009 Kawasaki sports bike collided with a car at the intersection.
"Every second or third day, there's an accident," said Dani Selmani, a neighbor who was walking his dog past the crash site last night. "It's a design problem. It's ridiculous, Something's got to change."
