A man was arrested Wednesday for slamming his box truck into a Queens mom who had just dropped her 6-year-old daughter off at school, killing her in a crosswalk, cops said.
William Cruz, 49, of Carteret, NJ, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian causing injury and failure to exercise due care for the fatal crash that claimed Jenny Maribel Chacho Sanchez on April 17. The top charge is a misdemeanor punishable by a $250 fine, up to 30 days in jail or both.
“At this point, whatever they do, it’s not going to bring my sister back,” the victim’s half brother, 28-year-old Christian Chacho, said of the charges. “I know inside him, he’s going to carry this his whole life.”
Sánchez, 30, was heading to work after the school drop-off when she was killed in the crosswalk on Gates Ave. at St. Nicholas Ave. in Ridgewood around 8:25 a.m., police said.
The driver continued on his route after striking the victim, but was stopped by police about a block away from the scene, cops said. Investigators believe the driver did not realize he had hit the woman with his truck.
Chacho Sánchez suffered severe head and body injuries and was rushed to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she died.
“That was her last goodbye,” Christian Chacho, said of the school drop-off. “That was like her little princess. One of the biggest things for her was to see her daughter’s Sweet 15,” he said, referring to a girl’s quinceañera celebration.
The victim’s parents were in Ecuador Wednesday, where their daughter was born and where they plan to lay her to rest, her brother said. Friends and family posted a GoFundMe on April 18 to fund the trip.
“We’re still in shock,” Christian Chacho said. “There are moments we don’t believe it’s true.”
Chacho Sánchez immigrated to New York City in 2012 and had been working for years at a clothing shipping warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when she was killed.
She was just around the corner from her father’s home, where she had been staying with her daughter in recent months, when she was struck.
At the intersection where she was killed, mourners set up a memorial at the base of a tree. Heart- and star-shaped balloons fluttered above bouquets of lilies and sunflowers, along with prayer candles and a photo of the victim.
“We don’t know what’s gonna happen next,” Christian Chacho said. “You could leave the house and things can just happen. She was a young woman. It’s a shock.”