The woman who was left in critical condition after being crushed between two cars by someone fleeing in a stolen truck is a mother-of-four from Nigeria who works at a Queens nursing home, it was revealed Sunday.
Authorities said Florence Ngwu, 49, is unlikely to make it after her head was pinned between two parked cars in a horrific Mother’s Day accident in South Jamaica, Queens.
As the truck took off, Ngwu’s young daughter screamed, ‘Mommy! Mommy!’
‘The doctors are basically saying they don’t want to give us false hope,’ her niece Nnenna B, 29, told the New York Post.
‘They came to my uncle and said it’s up to him what he wants to happen now, because we saw what she looked like and we could see for ourselves that things are looking terrible.’
A neighbor, who has lived next door to Ngwu for six or seven years, remembered Ngwu as a ‘very nice lady.’
‘I would see her every morning because I was going to go swimming when she was coming home,’ Robert Brown told the Post. ‘She worked nights, she was a nurse.’
Police are still looking for the driver of the truck, which had been reported stolen by Pawar Builders in Elmhurst, Queens. The truck was found abandoned about a mile-and-a-half away.
Traffic violence is becoming an epidemic in New York City, which has reported a more than 41 percent increase in overall crime so far this year.
The Nigerian mother-of-four is an aide at a nursing home, her family says. A neighbor says she worked night shifts there
Horrific footage showed the moment the mother was crushed between two cars by a fleeing truck while her daughter watched.
‘Mommy! Mommy!’ Florence Ngwu’s daughter screamed as the stolen truck, which had hit multiple parked cars while attempting a U-turn, travelled down the Queens street on Sunday.
The 49-year-old woman, who crossed between two park cars in an effort to prevent the driver from fleeing, was trapped as the truck hit a silver car from behind, ramming it into her and jamming her against yet another parked car.
Two other pedestrians fell to the ground.
The truck driver sped off down the road as Ngwu screamed in apparent agony.
That vehicle had been reported stolen a few hours before Sunday’s horror unfolded. Police are searching for the driver, who remains at large.
Ngwu was transported to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, NYPD confirmed to DailyMail.com. She is not expected to survive.
Nnenna B, Ngwu’s niece, says doctors have left her uncle with the choice of what to do with her body as it looks like she will not survive the accident.
‘He told the doctor to please keep fighting,’ Nnenna told the Post. ‘My aunt is a very strong woman. She’s a strong lady, strong-willed and strong-hearted person. He said please keep fighting for her until she gives up herself.’
She said doctors have had a hard time stopping the bleeding and that some blood vessels ‘are completely damaged beyond repair.’
Nnenna said her aunt had gone down to see what the commotion was all about.
‘I understand people may panic out of nowhere, but the way he went about it,’ she said. ‘He hit my cousin’s car first and that’s why my auntie came downstairs, to see what was going on.
‘So, him trying to get away and him trying to – all of it to me is just so inhumane,’ she said. ‘I don’t understand it.’
Her family says Ngwu worked at the SilverCrest nursing home in Briarwood, Queens. Staff at the nursing home could not immediately confirm her employment to DailyMail.com on Sunday night.
One neighbor described the gruesome scene, which ended with Ngwu sprawled out on the pavement after being crushed between the fleeing truck and a parked car.
‘We went like, “Yo, you hit the car,'” the unidentified man told the Post.
‘All of a sudden he just rammed the silver car there. The silver car hit us. She was further back to the green car, so she fell. She couldn’t get up fast enough.
‘Pinned her head on the bumper,’ he said.
One of the vehicles hit belongs to one of Ngwu’s daughters. The white BMW sedan suffered damage to the hood and front bumbper.
One police source said: ‘That was horrible and it happened in front of the daughter on Mother’s Day. You never recover from that. Whenever Mother’s Day rolls around, that’s how she’ll remember her mother. That’s horrific.
‘I was heartbroken watching that video,’ the source added.
No more information on what led to the confrontation that sparked the horrific incident has been shared, besides cops revealing that the truck had earlier been stolen.
One neighbor described the accident. ‘She was further back to the green car, so she fell. She couldn’t get up fast enough. Pinned her head on the bumper,’ he said
The truck left Ngwu trapped between two cars. ‘He hit my cousin’s car first and that’s why my auntie came downstairs, to see what was going on,’ Ngwu’s niece recalled to the New York Post
The driver of a Ford F-550 truck struck Ngwu at 8.33am on Sunday after attempting a U-turn at 167th Street and 120th Avenue in the South Jamaica neighborhood.
Video shows the truck, sporting the words Pawar Builders on the side, hit multiple vehicles while it turns at the intersection.
‘Oh my God, this car’s hitting all these cars, bro,’ a resident, who captured the crash on camera, is heard saying.
Residents ran into the road, attempting to stop the driver from leaving the scene. But the suspect continued on.
‘Oh my goodness. No!’ the bystander screamed as the truck slammed into another parked car and pinned the mother between two vehicles.
The suspect then sped off down the street and fled as the woman’s family rushed towards her while she screamed out in pain. Her daughter was also yelling.
The truck had been reported stolen about two hours before the incident and was later found by police about one-and-a-half miles away from the accident site, near 164th Place and 108th Drive. However, the driver was nowhere to be found.
One of the cars that was hit by the stolen truck in Queens belongs to the daughter of victim Florence Ngwu. It appears to have suffered damage to the front bumper and hood
A group of pedestrians go into the street in an effort to prevent the truck driver from fleeing. The 49-year-old Queens mom is among these individuals
The woman’s family members rushed towards her as she screamed, as seen in video captured at the scene Sunday morning
The woman is seen trapped between the two vehicles. Police say she was transported to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition and is not expected to survive
The suspect sped off down the street as the mother screamed in agony. Police later recovered the truck near 164th Place and 108th Drive, however the driver was nowhere to be found
Police are searching for the driver, whose silhouette is captured above. Pawar Builders in Elmhurst reported the car stolen before the crash
The stolen truck that hit a woman on mothers day was abandoned in front of a church on 108th Street and 164th Place in Queens
Police are searching for the driver of the stolen truck, who remains at large as of Sunday night
Traffic violence is becoming an epidemic in New York City, which has reported a more than 41 percent increase in overall crime so far this year.
So far this year, the Big Apple has seen 7,634 felony assaults, a nearly 20 percent increase from last year, 470 shooting victims, a 4.4 percent increase, 509 rapes, a 10.7 spike, and 4,844 robberies, a rise of nearly 45 percent.
On Saturday, around 8.15pm, an elderly man was killed after being struck by a minivan in the Bronx.
John Dellacava, 72, was attempting to cross E. Tremont Avenue at Roosevelt Avenue in his battery-powered wheelchair when he was struck by a 25-year-old woman driving a Toyota Sienna minivan.
NYPD said his initial injuries had appeared minor and paramedics transported him to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition.
However, he later died at the hospital from severe internal injuries. Police said Dellacava lived less than a mile from the scene of the accident.
The driver, who remained on scene after hitting him, has not been charged and the incident remains under investigation.
John Dellacava, 72, was fatally struck while attempting to cross E. Tremont Avenue at Roosevelt Avenue in the Bronx in his battery-powered wheelchair on Saturday night
MAY 2021 vs MAY 2022: As of May 1, overall crime is up 41.6 percent so far this year compared to last year
New Mayor Eric Adams, a former cop, has vowed to get crime in city under control and decrease bloodshed, one of the key points of his mayoral campaign.
In January 2022, he unveiled a comprehensive plan to combat the city’s surge in crime. That included increased foot patrols as well as the revival of a plain clothes unit named Neighborhood Safety Teams.
Last weekend, Adams, 61, met with 77 NYPD precinct commanders and other top officials to discuss ways to combat the surge of violence across the city.
He emphasized the need for authorities to become more actively involved with the community, alleging commanders should know schools principals, homeless shelter officials and other leaders in the neighborhoods they serve.
However, critics of the new mayor have questioned his priorities, noting he has been regularly seen galavanting through his social circled during his first months in office.
This past week, Adams split NYC to hobnob with billionaires and comedians on the West Coast and was so late in returning to the Big Apple on Thursday that he had to cancel scheduled press events.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams joins billionaire philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen for the Berggruen Prize Gala at Berggruen Hearst Estate in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday.
Friends in high places: Cara Delevingne was seen partying alongside Eric Adams on March 28
Adams’ two-day California adventure comes amid revelations that a member of the playboy mayor’s entourage, Hollywood superagent Cade Hudson, was once accused of sexual harassment.
On Wednesday, the mayor participated in a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference on ‘digital transformation’ before heading to the local Museum of Tolerance to celebrate Israel’s independence day. He finished the night attending billionaire philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen gala at his Hearst Estate in Beverly Hills.
The busy day followed Adams’ stop to take in David Chappelle’s show, where he witnessed 23-year-old Isiah Lee storm the stage with a gun that contained a hidden knife while the comedian joked that he’d had to increase his security in light of his trans jokes at the Netflix is a Joke festival.
Adams also made appearances at the Met Gala on Monday and was seen with actress Cara Delevigne and rappers A$AP Rocky and Common at various city events.
A recent poll found that 43 percent of New Yorkers approve of Adams’ overall job since taking over in January — down from the 46 percent in the same survey conducted in February.
Adams attended the ritzy Met Gala on Monday. He is pictured with his partner Tracey Collins
Eric Adams is seen with CAA agent Cade Hudson, who has allegedly made it into the mayor’s inner circle, and supermodel Naomi Campbell at the members-only Zero Bond in Manhattan on Wednesday, April 27