By Bill Parry
In the aftermath of a fatal hit-and-run collision in Corona last week, state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) expressed his condolences to the family of the victim and hopes for the three people injured in the accident.
Forest Hills resident Irene Lee, 56, was arrested and charged the following day with leaving the scene of an accident—resulting in death, as well as disobeying a red light after she lost control of her Porsche and jumped onto the sidewalk at the corner of the Horace Harding Expressway service road and Junction Boulevard, police said. ;
Police from the 110th Precinct found the four victims when they arrived: a 21-year-old woman lying in the street with head trauma, a 26-year-old female bicyclist with an injury to her head, and two drivers in their vehicles with minor injuries
Doniqueco Cooke, 21, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center ,where she later died, according to the NYPD. The bicyclist suffered a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a fractured pelvis, a fractured femur and internal bleeding and remains in critical condition.
Lee’s next court date is July 14.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victim of the young woman who tragically lost her life yesterday, and I wish for a quick recovery of the three people injured,” Peralta said Friday. “This plague has to end. Enough is enough. Hit-and-run accidents are taking the lives of too many New Yorkers, and we must ensure we put all the necessary tools in place to combat this epidemic.”
Peralta noted the December hit-and-run death of 17-year-old Ovidio Jaramillo at the intersection on Northern and Junction boulevards in which the driver has not been caught. The latest fatal hit-and-run occurred just hours after Peralta unveiled a proposal calling for an insurance premium discount for non-commercial vehicles that have an operating dashboard camera installed.
“If vehicles within the vicinity of this accident had a dashcam installed, we would have footage of exactly what happened, which would in turn further the investigation,” Peralta said. The initial report from the NYPD said the suspect was described as a Hispanic man in his 50s, not a woman.
Peralta’s legislation, with state Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman (D-Springfield Gardens), would provide an insurance discount for dashcams like reductions for drivers who take a defensive driving course, and for drivers who have automatic safety belts and airbags in their vehicles. Peralta said the devices capture relative footage of the road, and the visual evidence recorded can provide protection for drivers in case of collisions. Dashcams can also record video involving reckless driver.
Under the bill, mandatory discounts on car insurance would become law. If enacted, New York would become the first state in the nation to require car insurance premium reductions for non-commercial vehicles that have an operating dashcam.
“If motorists know fellow drivers have dashcams in their vehicles, they will think twice before leaving the scene of an accident or driving recklessly,” Peralta said.
Dashboard cameras can also be used as a tool to combat auto insurance fraud. Reports indicate that insurance premiums are increasing because of auto fraud schemes that are becoming very common nationwide. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, auto insurance fraud rose nearly 13 percent in 2013 over the prior year.
“The dashboard camera legislation would reduce auto insurance rates on New Yorkers, which is typically higher than the national average, by 5 percent,” Hyndman said. “Any savings makes a difference for working families paying car insurance.”
Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, invoked the memory of a young Flushing victim in support of the legislation.
“If there is a collision, a dashboard camera can provide crucial information in the investigation, as was the case after the death of Allison Liao,” he said. “Dashcam video corrected erroneous reports that the 3-year-old ‘broke away from her grandmother’ in a Queens crosswalk, and helped authorities conclude that the driver was at fault, giving the family some measure of justice.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
