[UPDATE BELOW] Yesterday, two hit and runs in the city left one disabled grandmother dead and one Brooklyn girl in the ICU with a punctured lung. Around 4 a.m., 58-year-old Ilia Lopez was struck by a livery cab on E. 121st St. at Second Avenue. The driver reportedly sped off with Lopez still on the hood of the car; she didn't fall off until he hit E. 120th Street and First avenue. She was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital, but the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers wants to make sure nobody gets a bad view of livery drivers because of this. more ›

Firefighter Pat Quagliariello has been arrested after an NYPD probe showed that he was speeding and talking on a cell phone during an October hit-and-run that killed Guatemalan immigrant Manuel Tzajguachiac. Initially, Quagliariello admitted to the 62nd Precinct that his vehicle had been involved in the crash, but wouldn't say if he had been at the wheel. more ›

Firefighter Pat Quagliariello, who owns the BMW SUV that may have been involved in Sunday morning's fatal hit-and-run, has been placed on administrative duty while investigators determine whether or not he was behind the wheel. Manuel Tzajguachiac, 25, was struck and killed early Sunday morning on the corner of 65th Street and 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst, and four hours later Quagliariello showed up at the 62nd Precinct. He admitted to owning the car but would not say whether he was driving, and reportedly asked for a lawyer (or said he was already represented). more ›

Early Sunday morning, Manuel Tzajguachiac was killed in a hit-and-run in Bensonhurst, and police tracked the BMW SUV to an off-duty firefighter who "turned himself in" at the 62nd precinct hours after the accident. Pat Quagliariello wouldn't tell police whether or not he was driving, only that he owned the vehicle, which was found a block away from his Midwood home with damage to the left front fender. more ›

Manuel Tzajguachiac, 25, was fatally struck by a blue BMW SUV last night while crossing 65th Street near 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst. Witness Roman Ximeyo told the Daily News the crash was so hard it sounded like two cars hitting each other, and said, "The guy's stuff was on the corner, and he had flown down the street. He was on his stomach on the floor." Tzajguachiac was pronounced dead at Lutheran Hospital, and police say a man surrendered to cops at the 62nd Precinct three hours after the crash. He was released after questioning. more ›

Last night around 8:30 p.m., a five-year-old girl was fatally struck by a driver on Columbia Avenue in Newark, NJ. Julianne Vega was outside of her house, crossing the street with her older sister; According to the Star-Ledger, "Several witnesses at the scene said the vehicle was 'flying' on Columbia Avenue when it struck the young girl... The witnesses, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, also said there were four people inside the vehicle, which they described as a 'dark-colored Mercedes.'" WCBS 2 reports, "The impact on the little girl was apparently so hard that she was thrown in to the back of a parked minivan, her body denting the rear of the car." more ›

On Thursday night, a dentist was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing 4th Avenue near 79th Street in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Harry Lewner, 58, lived in Cedarhurst, Long Island an had a practice in Brooklyn since 1978. Office manager JoAnna Leask told the Daily News, "We walked out of the office together, and right after I said goodbye and turned the corner, I heard this loud boom. I ran over ... and saw him just lying in the street." Karissa McFaline, 21, who allegedly struck Lewner with her Kia and fled northbound, turned herself into police for leaving the scene of an accident. A second driver who hit Lewner while traveling southbound stayed at the scene and was not charged. Newsday (subscription req'd) reports that a dentist friend of Lewner's will see his patients today; Leask said, "That's what Harry would have wanted." more ›

Police arrested a 27-year-old man suspected for a fatal-hit-and-run that killed a Chinese food deliveryman after following the trail of anti-freeze from the crash site to the driver's home. Gus Pappaeliou is also suspected of being drunk during the Saturday incident. more ›

The NYPD is asking for help in finding the driver of a van that fatally struck a 71-year-old woman in the Woodhaven section of Queens. The incident occurred on Monday night around 10:24 p.m., when Virginia Montalvo was pushing a shopping cart full of recyclable material across Jamaica Avenue near 98th Street. Police believe the driver was speeding; a witness told the Daily News, "The driver had to know they hit someone, but they just kept driving like they had no soul... The driver struck the woman dead and didn't even hesitate." Montalvo was later pronounced dead a hospital; she lived just two blocks away with her daughter's family. Though she didn't need to collect cans and bottles (and her family apparently warned her not to collect at night), her son-in-law explained to the NY Times, "She went and did her collections to keep herself busy, so as not to be bored sitting at home." Witnesses are asked to contact CrimeStoppers,1-800-577-TIPS or email. more ›

The Staten Island hit-and-run case last weekend that left a couple dead has been reopened after evidence surfaced that police were chasing down the black Mercedes driven by Theodore Ricks before he ran into the livery cab where Mohamed Elnahal and Mervat Saad Ibrahim lost their lives. The NYPD had twice denied that Internal Affairs was involved with any investigation, but now have confirmed that such a probe is under way. more ›

A new twist in the tragic hit-and-run that claimed the lives of a livery cab driver and his wife. A lawyer for the suspect, Theodore Ricks—whose driver's license was revoked four times and suspended 17 times—suggests his client was the victim of the NYPD's racial profiling and that the police had been chasing him, causing him to slam into Mohamed Elnahal's car. The Staten Island Advance has video showing a police car with its lights on, following a black car: "If the vehicle in the video is indeed the Mercedes, the footage would support witness claims that [Ricks] was tailed on four nearby residential streets right before the crash, something police have denied." Cops claim they followed Ricks because his car's windows were too darkly tinted and suggest that Ricks sped away because he did not have a license and his passenger had pot. In the meantime, a donation fund has been created for Elnahal's now orphaned sons; the Daily News says donations can be made in Kareem and Omar Elnahal's names at any Chase branch. more ›

The NYPD is opening up an internal investigation after a Brooklyn mother was killed by a hit-and-run (stolen) van driver—who was being chased by the police. Newsday reports that police officers realized a van was taken in a carjacking; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called it a "terrible tragedy," and said, "The unmarked car pursued in an unobtrusive manner the stolen vehicle." After those cops called for assistance, "Marked radio cars then started to pursue the van. Another vehicle...started to move the stolen car over toward a lane of parked cars." Stacey Blount, 45, was struck after wishing employees at her regular hair salon happy New Year. The Daily News reports that surveillance video suggests the cops weren't speeding, but State Senator Eric Adams said, "This is a textbook case why you do not speed through the streets of Brooklyn to apprehend a fleeing felon. Our city streets are not Hollywood." The driver is still being sought, and there is an $8,000 reward from the NYPD and community groups. more ›

Just before 4 a.m. this morning, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle in the Bronx--and thrown into the path of a city bus. WABC 7 reports that "the 29-year-old was hit by the vehicle at the intersection of East 180th Street and Washington Avenue," where a Bx36 bus was running through. The driver of the first vehicle fled while the bus driver stayed at the scene. On Long Island, a man in a motorized wheelchair was struck and killed by a car. The victim had been traveling on the shoulder of Route 25, and 24-year-old Lauren Dean hit him and kept driving. She was later apprehended and charged with DWI, leaving the scene of the accident and driving with a suspended license. more ›

A 40-year-old woman was fatally struck and dragged by a red Mercedes that hit her while she was crossing Brighton Beach Avenue yesterday afternoon. The car's driver, 27-year-old Ronald Suriano, was arrested for drug possession (cops found drugs in his car). more ›

Some more details have emerged about the fatal hit-and-run that killed a Brooklyn resident in lower Manhattan Thursday night. Florence Cioffi was fatally struck by George Anderson's Mercedes SUV on Water Street and Old Slip. Anderson had originally fled the scene but later returned, where he was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. more ›

Last night, a Brooklyn woman was fatally struck by a driver in a Mercedes SUV on Water Street and Old Slip in lower Manhattan. Florence Cioffi, 59, was pronounced dead at NYU Downtown Hospital. more ›