Two Elderly Brooklyn Pedestrians Killed Crossing Streets this Week

SUNSET PARK/SHEEPSHEAD BAY — Two women, a 75-year-old and an 80-year-old, are dead after being struck by cars while crossing the street. Only one driver was arrested.

On Friday, December 13 at around 10:24 p.m., a man driving a 2010 Toyota Rav 4 was headed northbound on Haring Street, approaching Voorhies Avenue in Sheepshead Bay. According to the NYPD, the 49-year-old driver stopped at the stop sign. Then, he made a left turn into westbound Voorhies Avenue. The NYPD says that as he was traveling along Voorhies Avenue, his vehicle hit an 80-year-old woman “who was in the middle of the street at the incident location.”

Misa Gorlitskaya, the victim, who was just four blocks away from her home, suffered trauma to the head and neck. She was transported to Bellevue Hospital, and on Monday, December 16, she died from her injuries. Cops say the driver remained at the scene and was not arrested.

“In just the one block of Haring between Voorhies and Nostrand last year, there were eight reported crashes, injuring one pedestrian and three motorists. So far this year, there have been 10 reported crashes,” Streetsblog reported.

On Wednesday, December 18 at around 9:56 a.m., 75-year-old Xue You was attempting to cross 52nd Street near Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park. You was also just a few blocks away from her home, which is on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

As she was crossing the street, 21-year-old Ilda Gjona from Bay Ridge was driving a 2019 white Jeep Grand Cherokee and heading south on Eighth Avenue. Gjona made a left turn into 52nd Street and struck You.

You was found with severe trauma to her body. She was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn and was pronounced dead. Gjona remained at the scene and was soon arrested for failing to yield to a pedestrian and a right of way violation.