Jan 26, 2008 11:03 am US/Eastern
Sept. 11 Survivor Killed In NYC Hit And Run
CEO Charged With Vehicular Manslaughter
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Chance helped save Florence Cioffi's life on Sept. 11, 2001. She had left her World Trade Center office for a coffee break and was able to escape the terrorist attack that destroyed the twin towers, her fiance said. But Cioffi would be killed in lower Manhattan more than six years later, mowed down while crossing a street Thursday night, authorities said.
A computer firm chief faces charges of vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and criminally negligent homicide.
"She survived the trade center, and she was run down like a dog in the street," said Cioffi's longtime fiance, William Mosca, 63.
Enterprise Engineering Inc. chief executive George W. Anderson, 47, of Brookville, was released on $250,000 bond after being arraigned Friday night. His lawyer, Jan D. Goldman, said the deadly collision "looks like an absolute accident," saying his client had a green light at the time.
Anderson's wife, Elvira, said he had gone to Thursday night's New York Rangers game to see the team honor former defenseman Brian Leetch by retiring his jersey's No. 2. He and a friend were talking about the game as Anderson drove and did not think he had hit anyone, she said.
"He's not the type to leave the scene," his wife said. "He's a good man."
Anderson's Mercedes sport utility vehicle was running at 60 mph when it hit Cioffi as she was crossing Water Street in the middle of a block, assistant Manhattan district attorney Erin LaFarge said. Police said Anderson had left the scene of the crash but soon returned.
Cioffi, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. She had been in Manhattan for a dinner with friends, said Mosca's daughter, Nicole Kralick.
Nicknamed Flo, she was a private asset manager for Frenkel & Co., an insurance firm that moved after Sept. 11 from the trade center to Jersey City, N.J. A 27-year employee, she was "extremely loved and cherished," chief executive John F. Kelly said.
She and Mosca had lived together in Brooklyn's Gerritsen Beach neighborhood for 16 years and were looking forward to marking her 60th birthday on Feb. 2, Mosca said. When she told him she hadn't decided what how she wanted to celebrate, he said, "Don't worry. We still have time."
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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