A 72-year-old woman was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in Fort Hamilton on Thursday evening, police said.
The victim, who has since been identified as Anne-Marie Wiesner, was crossing Marine Avenue close to the intersection of 96th Street at around 7:50 p.m. on Nov. 16 when the driver of a dark-colored sedan struck her and fled the scene.
Officers from the 68th Precinct arrived on the scene to find Wiesner lying under a parked vehicle with “severe head and body trauma,” according to an NYPD spokesperson. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. According to the NYPD, Wiesner lived just a block away from the scene of the crash, at the corner of 96th Street and Third Avenue.
Police are conducting an investigation into the incident and are currently searching for the driver of the vehicle.
An eye-witness told ABC-7 he saw the driver accelerate upon impact and quickly fled the scene.
Three people have been killed in hit-and-runs in Brooklyn this month, and at least two more have been injured. On Nov. 14 — just days before Thursday’s crash — 46-year-old Mohammed Hossain was hit and killed while crossing 37th Street in Borough Park, and 72-year-old Yvette Sandiford was fatally struck in a Crown Heights crosswalk on Nov. 2.
Commuter advocacy group Transportation Alternatives raised concerns about the lack of street safety infrastructure on the stretch of Marine Avenue where Thursday’s hit-and-run occurred. The group noted how there is no crosswalk across the avenue for nearly 1,100 feet from where the victim was killed.
Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced sweeping budget cuts that will reduce the budgets of city agencies by 5%. Transportation Alternatives said these cuts will threaten the Department of Transportation’s ability to build critical street safety infrastructure and meet the goals of Vision Zero.
“We cannot ever afford to compromise on safety, and our leaders can’t defund critical, essential safety infrastructure – especially as we mourn the 223 people killed and 2,247 people seriously injured on New York City’s streets this year,” said Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris.
Update 11/20/2023, 3:34 p.m.: This story has been updated to include the name of the victim.
