
Horrifying video shows moment stolen car fatally plows into NYC woman sitting on a bench in crash that left 2 dead
The blue Chevy Malibu rams through a traffic median at Bowery and Canal streets in Manhattan around 7:30 a.m. and strikes a 30-something male cyclist and a 63-year-old woman sitting on a bench, shows the clip exclusively obtained by The Post.
3 The woman can be seen sitting on the bench just moments before she was fatally plowed by the stolen car.
Obtained by the NY Post
Advertisement
3 The stolen Chevy Malibu then enters the frame, killing two people.
Obtained by the NY Post
The tragic female victim, Mary Kwok, seems to entirely disappear from view after being struck, while the bike-riding man also appears to be obliterated by the impact.
The Malibu, a rental reported stolen, then careens into an empty NYPD van, the chilling footage shows.
The suspected driver of the car, Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero, 23, and her alleged passenger, 22-year-old Kennedy LaCraft, fled the scene but were picked up by cops nearby.
Advertisement
3 The blue Chevrolet Malibu flew off the Manhattan Bridge, and fatally plowed into the elderly woman and a man on a bicycle, cops said.
William Farrington
Drugs and alcohol were found in the car.
Romero also has a pending Brooklyn court case from an April 13 wreck that struck a bystander.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
OF COURSE ‘restorative justice' in schools doesn't work — and now the proof is in
Surprise, surprise: School 'meditation rooms' and 'harm-reduction circles,' a new study shows, don't cure juvenile delinquents but instead undermine teachers' authority and lead to more chaotic classrooms. Gee, who would've thunk it? Actually, the study — by the Manhattan Institute — confirms what we've long known about then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's push for 'restorative justice' in the name of racial equity: It was always doomed to fail. Restorative justice calls for schools to provide students and staff the opportunity to talk through conflicts instead of punishing kids with meaningful measures like suspensions. Yet the data shows that, despite an outlay of $100 million since it became the prevailing practice, incidents requiring the NYPD's school safety division more than doubled — from 1,200 in the first quarter of 2016 to 4,120 in the first quarter of 2025. The report also found that putting troubled students in 'meditation rooms' instead of suspending or kicking them out of class doesn't solve any problems, as violent incidents continued to rise and absenteeism jumped 35%. The study cites several instances of students not being punished or held accountable for deplorable behavior and violent acts. Though students at Origins High School who had subjected a Jewish teacher to Nazi salutes and threats were sent to a 'meditation room,' the harassment did not stop. This spring, an 8-year-old stabbed a staff member with a pencil and threatened classmates at Staten Island's PS 8. Parents derided the school's response — a meditation room and calls home — as entirely inadequate. A Center for Court Innovation in Brooklyn found no statistically significant benefits in schools that implemented restorative-justice practices compared to those that used a traditional disciplinary approach. The Department of Education claims suspensions have plummeted 48% over the past 10 years, resulting in 'keeping more children in class and engaged.' Duh: If your policy is to suspend fewer kids, as restorative-justice calls for, it's no shock that fewer kids get suspended. Even Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos admits the approach isn't cutting it: 'The work is far from done,' she conceded Wednesday. Yet she vowed, 'It's not leaving New York City public schools.' That's unforgivable: The study's bottom line clearly found restorative justice fuels disorder, a lack of accountability and possibly an increase in chronic absenteeism. The disruptions that prevent well-behaved kids from learning alone should be enough to ditch this policy, not to mention the violence and absenteeism that comes from it. Mayor Eric Adams, as a former cop, should know that kids who don't pay meaningful consequences for misbehavior will simply continue misbehaving. Some good news: An April 2025 executive order from Donald Trump puts the kibosh on using race as a factor in discipline, which may help push schools to return to traditional responses to misconduct and a restoration of order in classrooms. But until New York City's policy changes, the chaos will continue — and learning will suffer.


New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Columbia janitors trapped, attacked by anti-Israel mob settle for undisclosed amount
Two Columbia University custodians, who filed complaints against the school over their chilling experiences of being trapped by an anti-Israel mob and forced to scrub swastikas, have decided to settle with the Ivy League, The Post has learned. Lester Wilson and Mario Torres, whose complaints sparked a civil rights probe, have opted to take advantage of Columbia's recently announced $220 million settlement for civil rights violations and racially discriminatory practices. The settlement is for an undisclosed amount of money. While that wraps up Wilson's and Torres' battle against Columbia, the two men are still forging ahead with their lawsuit against more than 40 protesters whom they allege held them hostage during the Hamilton Hall riot last year. Columbia had inked the $220 million deal with the Trump administration to restore the bulk of federal funding to the elite institution. 4 Mario Torres repeatedly dealt with anti-Israel agitators throughout last year. Getty Images The settlement featured $200 million for settling discrimination claims and about $20 million to employees who alleged they suffered civil rights violations. Wilson's and Torres' settlement comes from the $20 million pot specifically, as they had filed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints that sparked a civil rights probe into the school. Neither Wilson nor Torres is Jewish, but the two men were horrified and traumatized by the storm of anti-Israel protests that ripped through campus in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. 'The university set up the situation and ended up putting them into that situation, now the issue is holding accountable those who carried it out and were responsible for the takeover and the assault,' Brandeis Center president Alyza Lewin said in an interview. 4 The two janitors have not been able to return to work due to their injuries, a source told The Post. Getty Images The Brandeis Center and Torridon Law are working together on the ongoing lawsuit against the protesters. Both men had worked at the school for five years and suffered injuries during the protests and riots on campus. Neither man has been able to return to work since, a source told The Post. During the student takeover of Hamilton Hall in April of last year, Wilson and Torres were assaulted and chastised as 'Jew-lovers' by some of the rioters, according to the complaints they filed last October. ''I'm going to get twenty guys up here to f–k you up,'' one masked rioter who had 'violently' shoved Torres threatened, per his complaint. 'Mr. Torres pulled a fire extinguisher, which was within arm's reach, off the wall to defend himself and replied, 'I'll be right here.'' 4 The two janitors were traumatized by the hate they witnessed at Columbia University. Torres was repeatedly bludgeoned on his back by rioters before escaping, while Wilson had gotten shoved and had furniture pushed into him on his battle to get outside, per the complaints. Eventually, the NYPD intervened and cleared out the building, leading to over 100 arrests. Even before their traumatizing experience at Hamilton Hall, the two custodians had been forced to deal with racist and antisemitic graffiti scrawled on campus as early as November 2023. 'Mr. Wilson recognized the swastikas as symbols of white supremacy,' his complaint alleged. 'As an African-American man, he found the images deeply distressing. He reported them to his supervisors, who instructed him to erase the graffiti. 'No matter how many times Mr. Wilson removed the swastikas, individuals kept replacing them with more.' Torres, who is Latino, counted up dozens of swastikas that he was forced to scrub and grew enraged over time as he kept seeing the hateful graffiti around Hamilton Hall. 4 Columbia University has since agreed to a settlement and to change its policies to combat antisemitism on campus. Getty Images He was particularly troubled by the fact that Columbia didn't take aggressive action against the perpetrators, given that the school has security feeds and requires an electronic ID to get into the hall, which is nestled on the school's Morningside Heights campus. 'They were so offensive, and Columbia's inaction was so frustrating, that he eventually began throwing away chalk that had been left in the classrooms so vandals would not have anything to write with,' Torres' complaint alleged. 'However, Mr. Torres was reprimanded by his supervisor for doing so.' At one point, after Wilson reported a masked protester running through Hamilton Hall chanting, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' and scribling swastikas in the building, campus security told him that 'the trespassers and vandals were exercising their First Amendment rights' and that 'nothing could be done,' according to his complaint. Former US Attorney General Bill Barr's firm Torridon represented the two janitors in their complaint against Columbia. The Post contacted Columbia for comment. Additional reporting by David Propper


New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Nassau County Exec Blakeman shuts down Dems storming ICE jail in surprise visit: ‘Nothing to hide'
Nassau County's top elected official shrugged off a stunt by Democratic lawmakers who showed up to inspect a jail where the county is holding detainees under a controversial deal with federal immigration authorities. Republican Bruce Blakeman said Nassau has 'nothing to hide' after the pair of Democrats were briefly denied entry on Wednesday to a section of the county jail where 50 cells are reserved for holding alleged illegal immigrants sent for deportation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. State Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages were turned away at 10:15 a.m. but were let into the area after Blakeman was informed of their arrival. 4 Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman shrugged off a stunt by Democratic lawmakers who showed up at the East Meadow Jail to inspect conditions where detainees are being held under a controversial deal with ICE agents. Brigitte Stelzer The section of the jail, which is cut off from the rest of the facility, was holding 14 inmates at the time. 'We welcome their visit, I'm glad they came,' Blakeman told reporters outside his office Wednesday afternoon, hours after the visit had concluded. 'Any misunderstandings or rumors could be set aside by showing them what is actually going on here —- and they indicated to my staff that they were very satisfied — we have nothing to hide.' But Solages and Salazar told The Post the conditions the detainees were forced to stay in were 'less than basic.' Solages said the men they saw are not allowed any outdoor time or even a single shower during their 72-hour stays at the county jail while they await deportation or transfer. 4 State Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages appeared at the jail before being turned away at 10:15 a.m. Paul Martinka She also said that the detainees she spoke to claimed not to have any criminal records, and are only guilty of the civil offense regarding their immigration status. 'There are people in there who have not committed any crime other than the civil offense for immigration,' Solages told The Post. Blakeman said he couldn't say whether detainees are facing any criminal charges beyond their immigration status — as ICE does not share any detainee info with the county. 4 A portion of the facility that is cut off from the rest of the building was holding 14 inmates at the time. Stefan Jeremiah The visit also quickly prompted a new directive by Blakeman, who instructed jail officials to begin allowing ICE detainees access to showers. 'We believe they are not entitled to a shower,' Blakeman told reporters outside his office. 'But upon learning that today, I have directed the Sheriff's Department to make sure any prisoner who wants a shower while they're here, can get a shower.' 4 Blakeman later told reporters he was glad the lawmakers came as he said, 'Any misunderstandings or rumors could be set aside by showing them what is actually going on here.' Brigitte Stelzer Since February, the county has held more than 1,400 migrants under a deal with the federal government that counters other municipalities' sanctuary policies. Nassau is paid $195 per detainee, per night, and allows ICE to detain anyone around the metropolitan area at the East Meadow jail for up to 72 hours. As part of the partnership, 10 Nassau detectives have completed training to be deputized as ICE agents and are awaiting final authorization to assist in deportations. Since January, local police have already turned over at least 15 undocumented migrants to ICE after unrelated arrests, ranging from grand larceny to child endangerment. The partnership has sparked backlash from immigrant rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, who warn that Nassau could be opening itself up to legal and constitutional challenges — similar to those faced by neighboring Suffolk County.