A pregnant woman, Min Lin, 36, was struck and killed by a vehicle clearing snow in a Brooklyn parking lot during a large snowstorm in mid-February 2014. Lin was nine months pregnant, and her baby was delivered by emergency cesarean section. According to a hospital spokesperson, the baby boy is six pounds and six ounces and is in critical condition. Lin also had a husband of eight years and a six-year-old son.
Lin went out with her husband during a heavy snowstorm to go to the obstetrician. Her roommate, Sony Qing Huang, said that Lin had expressed reservations about going out in the weather. However, while she was loading groceries into her car in a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn shopping center parking lot, a mini-construction vehicle clearing snow backed up and hit her. Lin was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. Her baby was delivered by an emergency C-section and was in critical condition in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. Huang said, “The baby is not looking good and [his father] is very worried.”
According to police, the driver of the snow-clearing vehicle was 42-year-old Wu Wu. Wu was driving the vehicle, a Bobcat S250, in the parking lot to clear snow from a heavy story that hit that morning. He was issued several summonses for failing to have a vehicle, and not having a headlamp or a license plate light. Police did not file criminal charges against Wu, and they believe that the incident was an accident.
However, Marvin Lopez, 43, a janitor who lives across the street from the parking lot, said that Wu drove the construction vehicle recklessly. Lopez stated, “He almost hit me and my wife yesterday as we were going across the street. The guy was a speed demon. I thought, that man is going to kill somebody someday. And look what happens.”
Huang said she is distraught over losing her roommate and friend. She said, “They are a very happy family. The son is so smart, the husband works so hard and he’s always so busy.” Lin’s husband works at a Chinese restaurant in New Jersey and would come home on a weekly basis.
Earlier in February, a 73-year-old man was struck and killed by a snowplow in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The man was crossing the street when the vehicle backed into him.
Website Resource: Baby delivered alive after snow-clearing vehicle kills pregnant mother, NY Post, Frank Rosario, Rebecca Harshbarger and Bruce Golding, February 13, 2014
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