Husband mourns pregnant wife run over by hit-run driver in Brooklyn fender-bender clash
Tiffany Cifuni, 32, got out of her 2021 Toyota 4Runner to confront the driver of a Chevy Trax who rear-ended her near Van Buren St. and Marcus Garvey Blvd. in Bedford-Stuyvesant about 11:55 p.m. Saturday, cops say. The heartless Chevy driver ran Cifuni over, dragging her the wrong way down a one way street before crashing into two other vehicles and then running off.
'Tiffany was literally was the center of our world,' James Cifuni told the Daily News in an exclusive interview Monday. 'She made me a better person, a better man.'
'She was pregnant,' he added. 'And it's not about me, it's about her. But I lost my whole family tonight and I don't think I'll ever be the same.'
The expectant mom had just told her in-laws she was in her first trimester a couple of weeks ago and was on her way home from the Beyoncé concert at MetLife Stadium when she was killed, her father-in-law told ABC 7 New York.
'This is a tragic act of violence and we're all just trying to deal with this in our own way,' her husband told the News.
Late Saturday, tragedy struck in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cifuni got into a fender-bender with another driver, and when the motorist tried to drive away, she approached the car.
Cifuni was driving east on Van Buren St. when she was hit from behind by a woman driving a 2016 Chevy Trax driver, cops said Monday.
In surveillance video obtained by ABC 7 New York, Cifuni drives after the Chevy, then gets out of her vehicle to confront the driver off camera over the fender-bender.
'Where are you going?' Cifuni shouts. 'Get out!'
'You trying to drive away? Get out!' she yells, repeating the command as banging sounds can be heard off-screen.
''Get out right now. Park your car and get out!' she yells. 'You don't f—ing drive away … Park your car, you just hit me!'
As traffic piles up behind them, a yell and a bang can be heard as the Chevy driver pulls out, running Cifuni over and dragging her down the street. The victim's scream of anguish is captured in the video.
The Chevy driver turned right onto Marcus Garvey Blvd. then turned onto Lafayette Ave., heading the wrong way down the one-way street to get away. The Chevy driver crashed into a parked SUV and a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a 38-year-old woman before abandoning the Chevy and fleeing on foot.
Cifuni didn't become dislodged from under the Chevy until its driver struck the parked vehicle, witness Shane Bridges told The News Sunday.
'They dragged her like to the middle of the street,' Bridges, 28, said. 'Then they turned wrong up Lafayette and she was just left there.'
Cops were still looking for the driver Monday. The Chevy had temporary paper license plates, cops said.
Cifuni married her husband in 2022 and recently moved to Long Island, her father-in-law told ABC. Her pregnancy announcement surprised and delighted her family.
''They had just hit us with that news two weeks ago and she was so proud of the fact that she surprised me and buckled my knees with the news, you know?' Nick Cifuni told station. 'Tiffany was the rockstar of our family and we're interested in getting justice and in this person getting caught.'
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