A man was arrested after allegedly running over a family on purpose after the father asked him to stop smoking.
Jason Mendez, 35, got into an argument on Feb. 20 in front of a 7-Eleven in Garnerville just before 2 p.m with a 35-year-old dad who witnesses said asked Mendez not to blow smoke at his children.
“I heard the father, he was telling the cops, ‘I told him not to blow smoke in front of my kids,'” Cindy Schnaize, one witness, told NBC.
A worker told WABC that Mendez became enraged when the family’s father asked the suspect not to smoke around his children.
Police confirmed that an argument led to Mendez intentionally slamming into the family, which included a 32-year-old mother and six children ranging in age from under a year old to 10 years old.
The mother died from her injuries while the father was taken to Westchester Medical Center with a 2-year-old child with serious but nonlife-threatening injuries. The other children were rushed to Montefiore Nyack Hospital and were expected to survive.
Officials said Mendez intentionally drove into the family before backing over them.
Witnesses said that the mother of six suffered the worst injuries.
Woman Dead After Driver Plows into Family Outside 7-Eleven #news #nbc4ny https://t.co/LAHjvSTslA
— Stacey Bell (@StaceyBell4NY) February 21, 2019
Woman dead, 7 family members injured after being struck by vehicle at Rockland County 7-11: police https://t.co/28DOibUeeV pic.twitter.com/P93mgCfD97
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) February 21, 2019
“She was laying on the ground,” witness Allison Rodriguez told WABC. “Carriage was there. Nobody was around her. We just kinda knew she wasn’t gonna make it.”
Haverstraw Police Capt. Martin Lund said that what happened was a tragedy.
“It doesn’t happen very frequently in our community,” he said, reported CBS. “It is a tragedy that happened today.”
Police officials said when officers arrived, Mendez was brandishing a knife and refused to drop it, forcing them to use a Taser on him.
Mendez was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge and seven counts of attempted murder.
According to NBC, his attorney said in court that his client lost his cellphone repair job a week ago.
Mendez’s vehicle had Texas plates but police said he has roots in Rockland County.
Man charged with murder after family struck by vehicle at 7-Eleven https://t.co/xByG6vMV99 pic.twitter.com/Iu8QtuFXqu
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) February 21, 2019
Traffic Deaths
Traffic deaths fell 3.1 percent in the first six months of 2018, according to preliminary figures released in October 2018, Reuters reported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 2017 traffic deaths fell by 1.8 percent to 37,133 after traffic deaths rose sharply in the previous two years, according to final figures.
The traffic fatality rate fell to 1.08 deaths per 100 million miles traveled for the first half of 2018. The fatality rate in 2017 was 1.16 million deaths per 100 million miles traveled—the second highest rate since 2008.
“This is good news and bad news,” said Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council, told CNBC. “The total number of fatalities is not getting worse, but the situation is not getting better.” Hersman cited distracted driving and higher speed limits for the number.
“There are a number of states that have raised speed limits, some now have stretches at 80 or 85 miles per hour,” she said.
In Texas, for example, she estimated that traffic fatalities jumped 7 percent from 2015 to 2017, in part due to higher speed limits in the state. “We know it’s happening even though distracted driving data is hard to come by,” she said of drivers using smartphones while behind the wheel. “Police reports on accidents often don’t report if the driver was distracted and in many accidents, people don’t self-report themselves.”