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.”