By Nathan Duke
The mother of a 20-year-old Astoria woman was holding onto hope that police will track down a hit-and-run driver who struck her daughter in late August, leaving her in the hospital with a broken spine and numerous other injuries.
On Aug. 29, Erica Yauri was walking home from her job on Ditmars Boulevard and was struck by a car at the corner of 21st Street and 26th Avenue in Astoria just after midnight, said her mother, Maria Yauri, an Ecuadorian immigrant. The driver fled the scene, she said.
Erica Yauri would have begun her third year at Brooklyn’s St. Francis College this fall, but she is now recovering from a broken spine, neck injuries and a broken arm as well as a dislocated knee and leg, her mother said.
“Her spine and neck injuries will eventually get better, but she will have to go through a lot of therapy,” Maria Yauri said. “She will have some surgeries and there are braces on her legs.”
Stephanie Bello, who owns Ink Addicts Tattoos on 21st Street in Astoria, said she got involved in helping the family after Maria Yauri found her daughter’s sneaker in front of her store.
“I’d closed the shop early that night,” Bello said. “The next morning this lady came in and was crying. I felt for her — it was heartbreaking. When she got to the hospital, her daughter didn’t even recognize her. [Erica Yauri] can hardly talk and she’s in a lot of pain.”
The 20-year-old was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but the family does not know who reported the accident.
Maria Yauri, who speaks broken English, enlisted Bello to contact the police about the incident. The tattoo store owner said she called the police twice about the incident, but the family has still not been able to fill out a police report.
Erica Yauri, who was born in the United States and grew up in Astoria, is the oldest of five children, one of whom is in a wheelchair. She is the first person in her family to attend college, where she is studying physical therapy for children.
Bello said she and the family have been posting fliers around the community. If anyone has information about the accident, they can contact her tattoo parlor, at 26-04 21st St. in Astoria or by phone at 646-719-9757.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156
