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No hope for hit-run victim

By Dana Rubinstein
The Brooklyn Paper
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Bernard Clark
Monica Henk

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A young motorcyclist was left brain-dead Saturday morning after a dark SUV slammed into her at a Clinton Hill intersection and fled, said police.

Monica Henk, 26, was riding her motorcycle at around 7 am, when the black Chevy crashed into her and left her for dead at the corner of Kent and Flushing avenues.

Henk, a Colombia-born tattoo artist, model, and musician, was believed to have been heading home to Bedford-Stuyvesant to feed her dog before she went to class at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in Park Slop.

“She’s such a vibrant, active person,” said her husband, Dan Henk. “She was a model, an artist, a musician. She did so much.”

Henk earned her living as a tattoo artist at True Blue Tattoo in Queens. She recently posed for Skin and Ink Magazine’s 2006 calendar (see photo) and the cover of the Spanish-language body art magazine called Tatuajes y Perforaciones.

The accident rendered her brain-dead.

“They did a CAT Scan, and it confirmed extensive brain damage,” said Henk. “Plus, there was bleeding inside the brain, and the accident destroyed significant spinal cord tissue. Even if she had been revived at scene, she probably would have been paralyzed from the neck down.”

Police believe the culprit was driving a dark-colored SUV, possibly a mid-90s black Chevy S-10 Blazer missing its front bumper and a headlight.

Meanwhile, Henk’s family is trying to get Woodhull Hospital’s permission to take Monica off life support.

“I remember, we would see Christopher Reeve on TV, and she would say, ‘Promise me, if that ever happens to me, you’ll help me commit suicide,’” said Henk. “This is way worse than that.”

The family has also hired a private investigator and posted a $6,000 reward. Crimestoppers has put up an additional $10,000.

“This is murder,” said Henk. “This person was probably drunk or on something [and] completely careless. Not only did it cost Monica’s life, but he was such a coward that he fled the scene.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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