An 80 year-old Lynbrook woman was struck and killed Tuesday afternoon as she attempted to cross Sunrise Highway at the Forest Avenue intersection. Police later impounded the truck involved in the accident, and issued multiple equipment violation summonses.
"I had just walked through the door, when I heard the screech of brakes," said Genovese employee Zane Watkins, who works across the street from the scene of the accident. "I turned right around and saw her under the truck."
"I heard it, but I didn't see the hit," described a photo shop owner just steps from the scene. "When I saw her lying there, I just knew she was dead."
According to Nassau Police, Gertrude Dowdell, of 52 Hudson Place, in Lynbrook, was attempting to walk across Sunrise Highway, from south to north, at approximately 2:40 P.M. She passed in between two vehicles, a car and a tractor trailer, which were stopped in the eastbound lanes at Forest Avenue waiting for the light to turn green. When it did, the driver of the truck, Juan Torres (48) of Brooklyn, who was reportedly unable to see Mrs. Dowdell as she crossed the road, began to move forward, striking her and knocking her to the ground.
Mrs. Dowdell sustained multiple fatal injuries upon impact, and was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:52 P.M.
Although no criminal charges were filed against the truck driver, Nassau Police issued several equipment violations against the registered owner of the truck, Accurate Transportation Services, of 263 N. Henry Street, in Brooklyn. Detectives from the Homicide Squad do not believe, however, that the violations found by police, which covered such items as improperly maintained fire extinguishers, played any role in the accident.
The accident and subsequent investigation necessitated the closing of the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway for several hours, causing significant traffic congestion in and around the Valley Stream-Lynbrook-Rockville Centre corridor during most of the afternoon.
