UPDATE: Pedestrian Struck By Car In Prospect Park Thursday Morning
[UPDATED: Monday, December 11, 2017 at 12pm] – More information has come out regarding the hit-and-run incident that occurred in Prospect Park last Thursday morning.
Michael Gitelis, an 18-year-old from Flatlands, stole a Hyundai Sonata in Camden, New Jersey some time after midnight on Thursday, December 7 and drove into Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reports.
At approximately 5am, he struck Ellen Goldstein who was jogging in Prospect Park on the East Drive. She suffered pelvic and spinal fractures and a cut to her head, according to the Daily News.
Approximately three hours later, Gitelis reportedly stole a second car, a 2016 Honda CRV, from a 59-year-old woman who had left the car running on East 23rd Street in Midwood, according to the New York Post. Police officers spotted the car and pulled it over at East 7th Street near Avenue K, the paper reports, but Gitelis put the vehicle into reverse, slammed into the police car and a parked car, then fled the scene on foot, the Daily News adds.
Shortly following this incident, the teen reportedly knocked over a 61-year-old woman on East 13th Street near Avenue N, got into her 2018 Toyota Camry, and ran her over. The woman was taken to Maimonides Medical Center where she was treated for a fractured knee and cuts to her hand, arm, and leg, the Daily News reports.
Police tracked Gitelis down by using the victim’s iPhone which was inside her car. The teen was apprehended at approximately 9:30am at Jay and Willoughby Streets in Downtown Brooklyn, according to the Post.
Gitelis was not intoxicated, according to reports. He is being charged with robbery, assault, auto theft, grand larceny, and leaving the scene of a crash.
The teen was previously arrested on December 1st for graffiti, and on October 20th for burglary, aggravated harassment, criminal trespass, and stalking, the Post notes.
PROSPECT PARK – The NYPD is searching for the driver of a vehicle that struck a pedestrian in Prospect Park this morning.
A reader wrote in to inform us that she passed a police investigation in Prospect Park during her jog this morning. She noticed that the police taped off a portion of the jogging path on Prospect Park South near the Parade Ground. “We saw what looked like a pretty bloody napkin. A park ranger told us a female jogger was hit on the head,” possibly by a cyclist, she explained.
At approximately 5:40am this morning, a 51-year-old woman walking in Prospect Park South along a pedestrian path was struck by an unknown vehicle, a police representative told BKLYNER. The car fled the scene and there were no witnesses, the officer added.
The victim was taken to Maimonides Hospital where she is in critical but stable condition.
The vehicle was illegally driving in the park’s West Drive, according to Brooklyn Paper, which is off-limits to cars. The incident is still under investigation.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
