A 66-year-old woman was in critical condition Monday evening after she was struck by an SUV driver on the Upper East Side, police said.
The woman was crossing eastbound on First Avenue when a 2006 Nissan SUV making a left turn from East 85th Street struck her at about 7 p.m., according to police.
Witnesses said the woman appeared to he in the crosswalk when she was hit. They described a scary situation as they ran out to find the woman pinned underneath the SUV.
“When I went out there, the lady was pinned under the car,” witness Ray Bravo said. “There was a group of people there trying to see if she was responsive.”
The woman's glasses and shoe were still on the ground as police gathered evidence and began looking for surveillance video from residential buildings in the area.
The woman was listed in critical condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she was being treated for trauma to her face and hips, police said.
The man who was driving the vehicle stayed at the scene. Police had not arrested him as of Monday night.
Local
The accident comes just hours before Mayor de Blasio holds a Tuesday morning news conference about Vision Zero, his initiative to help prevent pedestrians from being hit by vehicles in the city.
Department of Transporation data shows that crashes involving pedestrians, especially seniors, increases 40 percent in the afternoon and evening hours starting in November.
The autumn upturn in crashes coincides with early sunsets during the evening rush hour. DOT data shows it lasts until about March.
