A Guyanese woman was killed and her nine-year-old daughter injured in Queens, New York on Sunday when a drunken driver in a BMW plowed through a stop sign at more than 50 mph, hitting their car in the process.
According to the New York Post, 41-year-old Zaalika Rasool, a mother of three, was pronounced dead at the scene while her daughter, Sara Rasool was rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital where she is currently listed in critical condition.
The woman’s husband, Azaan Rasool, was said to have been behind the wheel of a red Toyota Camry on 115th Avenue — waiting at the stop sign to make a left turn onto 130th Street — when the driver of the BMW X5 SUV came racing up from behind, flying past two vehicles before smashing into the rear of the family’s car. Both the woman and her daughter were ejected, the report said.
The incident was said to have unfolded in South Ozone Park just after 5 pm on Sunday as the family was heading home from a mosque.
“I’m still in shock. I saw her on the ground right there in front of me,” Azaan Rasool said of his dead wife. “I saw my wife first, and I knew she was dead, and then I looked for my daughter who was 6 or 7 feet away from the car. I started screaming, ‘Help! Call 911!’
“I thought it was a dream while it was happening. I tried to speed up to avoid him, but he was going too fast.”
A distraught Rasool added, “My wife and daughter came out of the rear window.”
Rasool further explained to the Post that he doesn’t yet have the heart to tell his daughter about everything that happened.
He said that when she regained consciousness, “She asked me what happened. I didn’t answer her. She needs to recover first.” The child sustained head, neck and foot injuries.
Family members and friends described Zaalika Rasool as an avid gardener who loved to cook. The tight-knit Guyanese family was set to take a cruise to the Dominican Republic next week, relatives told the Post.
Zaalika’s son, Shaan Rasool, told the New York Post that his mother worked in administration for the Department of Transportation for 15 years before going on to describe her as the type of woman who “was always there for you.”
Family members said they were faced with tragedy 15 years ago when Azaan’s brother lost his wife on 9/11.
“This is the second tragedy. Everything came back to us right away,” said Azaan’s mother Farida Rasool, 71.
Meanwhile, police were hunting for the driver, who they said stopped long enough for witnesses to see that he was drunk before he took off.
“It didn’t even sound like a crash, it sounded like a bomb going off,” said one eyewitness.
“I saw someone pinned under the car,” he added. “Her body was lifeless under the car, just her head sticking out.”
The man further stated that the visibly drunk driver was apparently accompanied by a boozed-up buddy.
“Just the way he was talking, the way he was moving, [I could tell] they were drunk,” he said. “[The driver] was slurring his words,” the witness told the Post.
