Three days after she was left to die in the street, investigators have few clues about the motorist now being sought for running down a 37-year-old Dyker Heights resident as she crossed Fort Hamilton Parkway early Sunday morning.
Cops found Natalie Assee on Fort Hamilton Parkway near 75th Street just before 2 a.m. on March 7. It was determined that a vehicle traveling along Fort Hamilton Parkway struck the woman as she crossed the street. Cops know very little about the vehicle except its color: white.
Cops also know very little about where Assee was coming from when she was hit.
Responding paramedics rushed her to Lutheran Medical Center where she died of her injuries, officials said.
On Tuesday, three days after the accident, cops admitted that they have very little to go on, since there were no witnesses to the hit and run.
“We have almost nothing,” one police source told this paper candidly. “We found some parts belonging to a white car at the scene, but we can’t even be sure that this was the car that hit her.”
Inspector Eric Rodriguez, the commanding officer of the 68th Precinct, said that NYPD accident investigation detectives re-canvassed the area on Monday, since many of the stores and businesses were closed when the accident took place.
Sources, however, said that investigators turned up nothing new. There is a church and a doctor’s office near the accident site, but neither had cameras facing out to the street, officials said.
The lack of evidence has prompted local elected officials to put out pleas for assistance in the investigation.
“Natalie’s death was cruel, tragic and unnecessary,” City Councilman Vincent Gentile (D, Bay Ridge) said in a statement. “I urge any witnesses to the hit-and-run accident, and particularly the driver of the vehicle, to come forward and speak with the local precinct to give her friends, family and our community some closure.”
Gentile said that he hopes police would pay more attention to Fort Hamilton Parkway in light of Sunday’s fatality.
“Dyker Heights residents have got to feel safe at night and on the roads – this accident has left our neighborhood shaken,” he said. “It’s likely that speed and recklessness was the cause of this accident, and it’s time that ticketing efforts focus on avoiding dangerous, fatal accidents like this instead of on well-intentioned drivers’ parking infractions.”
Cops are asking anyone with information regarding Assee’s death to come forward.
Calls can be made to either the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad at (718) 377-1674 or the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
