Nov 16, 2008 11:48 pm US/Eastern
Two Women Killed In Queens Livery Cab Accident
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
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Two women are dead after riding in a livery cab that was struck by an SUV whose driver was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving. The accident happened shortly after 3 a.m.
CBS
Two women are dead after riding in a livery cab that was struck by an SUV whose driver was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving.
The accident happened shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday in the Astoria section of Queens.
Police said a white Range Rover was going west on 31st Avenue when it collided with the cab going south on 34th Street.
The cab's two passengers, 41-year-old Bessy Velasquez and 30-year-old Panayiota Demetriou, were pronounced dead at Astoria General Hospital.
"She was a really nice person, you know," Bessy's father, Carlos Velasquez, said. "She had bad luck. That's all I can say."
"In this neighborhood, [the crash] doesn't surprise me because [cars] come flying at all hours of the night," Lorraine Carr, who lives close to the scene of the crash, said.
Co-workers and friends say Velasquez worked hard at two different jobs to support her children.
"Everything was for her daughters," family friend Kevin Colon said.
The 41-year-old, who leaves behind two teenage daughters, was a single mother who worked for Myrtle Car and Limo Service in Brooklyn.
"It's horrible, heart-breaking," Colon said. It just broke our heart this morning. When we heard the news, we couldn't believe it."
The driver of the Range Rover, 24-year-old Daryush Omar of Plainview, Long Island, was arrested on charges including vehicular manslaughter, criminially negligent homicide, driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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