A 73- year old woman, who was walking across East Houston Street yesterday afternoon, was hit and killed by the driver of a van.
Meipui Chow Leon, who lived in the East Village, was traveling on Clinton Street toward Avenue B at about 5 p.m. when a 2011 Ford van struck her. The van was apparently trying to make a left turn onto Houston from Avenue B when the accident happened. Leon was transported to Bellevue Hospital but doctors could not save her.
One witness observed (and tweeted), “Wow, just watched a van take off with a ticket after police tell me he hit and killed a woman crossing Houston and Clinton.” Police issued the driver two summonses for “failing to exercise due care” and “failure to yield.”
Multiple readers tell us Clinton Street was blocked off until at least 9:30 last night while cops investigated.
UPDATED 5:35 p.m. We just received a couple of photos from the scene (they’re posted above). Thanks to Cole Schaffer of Culturefix for those. The bar and cultural space is located just a few steps below Houston on Clinton Street. Schaeffer said there have been three accidents in the past week at this intersection; the sentiment so far from our readers on Facebook is that Clinton and East Houston is a definite trouble spot, an especially dangerous location for pedestrians.
Here’s another tidbit via EV Grieve:
An EVG reader, who took (a photo posted on Grieve’s site), said that four ambulances were at the scene at one point. According to witnesses, the van belonged to Whole Foods.
What? There should be criminal charges for reckless endangerment, if not manslaughter.
I don’t understand, when you’re making a turn, the pedestrian has the right of way. It seems that he made the turn w/o even looking to see if someone was walking across the street. There definitely should be criminal charges.