A 22-year-old woman killed in a wild hit-and-run crash in Manhattan’s West Village was dragged after grabbing onto the driver’s side door, then was run over after losing her grip and falling under the car’s wheels, cops said Tuesday.
Destiny Murrell latched onto the unidentified vehicle as it shot out from the parking lane on the far left side of Sixth Ave. into traffic shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday, cops said.
The car dragged the victim into the intersection at W. Washington Place, where she fell under the vehicle’s rear driver’s side wheel, police said.
Destiny suffered severe head trauma. Medics rushed her to Bellevue Hospital, where she died, police said.
Destiny Murrell was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Sixth Ave. in the West Village early Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
It was not immediately clear why she grabbed onto the door handle and if she knew the driver.
Burrell lived in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to police, roughly nine miles from where she was struck.
When reached by phone Tuesday morning, a woman who identified herself as Destiny’s mother declined to comment and requested privacy as the family grieves.
Surveillance video obtained by ABC7 appears to show Destiny lying in the middle of the street after the collision, the outlet reported.
Destiny Murrell was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Sixth Ave. in the West Village early Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The driver has so far not been caught.
Murrell is the fourth person to be killed on city streets within five days by drivers who fled the scene, according to Transportation Alternatives. The other three victims were bicyclists.
Deliverista Mamadou Diallo, 40, was pedaling past the corner of E. 54th St. and Avenue I in Flatlands at 11:50 p.m. Thursday when he was struck by a BMW driver, who was heading east on Avenue I, police said.
Diallo was heading west and making a left turn onto E. 54th St. when the dark-colored BMW struck him, cops said.
The cyclist was thrown from his bike into a parked Honda CRV, police said. EMS rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
A friend of Diallo’s said the crash occurred just minutes before midnight, which was the end of his shift.
“He’s a hard worker,” said Abdoulaye Barry, speaking in Spanish through a translator. “He was always willing to help everybody. Anytime you need help, he was always there for you.”
On Tuesday night, Angelo Camera was killed by a speeding hit-and-run BMW driver who ran a red light at the corner of Bruckner Blvd. and Longwood Ave. in the South Bronx, cops said.
Camera, 51, had just called his wife to say he’d be home in 10 minutes before the fatal crash occurred, she said.
“He was coming home,” Vilmary Martinez, 51, told the Daily News. “I called him that night. I told him I needed something, and he said, ‘I’ll be there in 10 minutes, babe.’”
“That was our last conversation,” she said solemnly.
After crashing into several other vehicles, the hit-and-run driver ditched the mangled BMW and jumped into another car to escape, police sources said. The driver is still being sought, police said.
“He took my life, my heart,” Martinez said of the out-of-control driver.
Detectives estimated the BMW driver was flying at 100 mph when he slammed into Camera, Martinez was told.
Earlier on Tuesday, a woman was killed when she was struck by a pickup truck driver in Brooklyn.
Paulina Tec Choc, 29, was pedaling her bike west on Jamaica Ave. in Cypress Hills when she was hit by a white pickup truck heading the same direction about 5:50 a.m., cops said.
Medics rushed her to Brookdale Medical Center, where she died.
The pickup truck driver did not remain at the scene.
Diallo is the 17th cyclist to be killed on city streets this year, according to Transportation Alternatives.
Following the fatal crashes, transit advocates called on New Yorkers to vote in November on Ballot Question 3, which would expedite the review process for small infrastructure and safe street projects.