An alleged drunk driver struck and killed a 57-year-old Staten Island man yesterday afternoon while he sat on a bench by a S78 bus stop on Victory Boulevard.
Oriamor Benson, 25, was driving southbound on Bay Street shortly before 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, when she struck a Nissan Altima turning left from Bay Street onto Victory Boulevard. Benson, who was driving a Nissan Rogue, then veered to her right and jumped the curb, according to the NYPD. Her SUV rolled over on top of David Craig, 57, who was sitting on a park bench outside of Tompkinsville Park.
Two bystanders moved to help Benson out of the vehicle, before they realized that Craig was pinned underneath. "We went over to help the woman and pulled her out of a car when we saw the man under the car," bystander John Childs told the Advance.
The News reports that Craig, a Vietnam veteran, had just finished an appointment at a social services office on Bay Street. "He was just trying to go home,” his father, Edward Craig, told the tabloid. “He was minding his business, sitting on a bench, waiting to catch a bus.”
NYPD officers responded to the scene at 1:56 p.m., and found Craig unconscious and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at Richmond University Medical Center.
Benson, who had allegedly been drinking, was also transported to Richmond, where she was subsequently arrested and charged with Driving While Ability Impaired—a traffic infraction, rather than a criminal misdemeanor.
