By Brian Zanzonico
Sewanhaka High School sophomore Christina Napolitano was still sore and bruised days after being hit by a minivan as she tried to cross Covert Avenue to get to school.
The injuries to her left arm and legs prevented her from shooting jumpshots during Christmas break, but not from attending her basketball team's practices. Her left knee was banged up in the Dec. 21 accident, and she's worried that it will keep her on the sidelines in street clothes just weeks after she made the varsity team.
Her parents say she is fortunate. Her father, John, who watched in horror as his daughter was mowed down just feet from the curb, said it's "like a miracle" that Christina wasn't more severely injured. Sewanhaka Principal Debra Lidowsky, who, along with Assistant Principal Luigi Farina, has for years lobbied Nassau County to post a "School Zone Reduce Speed" sign on Covert Avenue, said her worst fears were realized two Wednesdays ago.
"Mr. Farina and I have seen several near misses, and that was a concern," she said. "And now a student's been hit by a car."
Napolitano, of Elmont, said he stopped in Tony's Auto Repair service station on Covert Avenue, across from the school, at about 7:45 a.m. to let Christina out, warning her to be careful as she crossed. As she approached the sidewalk, she was struck on her left side by a minivan and knocked to the ground, Napolitano said.
"A guy who was parked [facing Hempstead Turnpike] pulled into reverse and hit me," Christina, 15, said. "It hurt."
She bounced up immediately, as much embarrassed as injured, as most of the 1,600-plus students were arriving at school, she said, but her father said she was dazed and screaming in pain.
The driver, Shamsul Alam, also of Elmont, stopped and got out of the car. "He seemed stunned," Napolitano said. "I yelled at him, which I shouldn't have, but I didn't know how else to react."
Shocked parents rushed to Christina, who was being cradled by her father. He had her in his arms and didn't want her to go into shock, so he couldn't reach his cell phone to call for help. A bystander made the call and a Nassau County police ambulance arrived after "what felt like forever," Napolitano said. Police policy prevented him from riding with Christina in the back of the ambulance, he said, so he followed closely in his car. He then called his wife, Ann, to tell her Christina had been injured.
"I told her a car just bumped into [Christina] and the ambulance was taking her to the hospital to check that she isn't hurt," said Napolitano, whose son, Nicholas, is an eighth-grader at Sewanhaka. "But she said she heard something in my voice that told her it was worse."
Ann Napolitano met her husband and daughter at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, where X-rays indicated that Christina had no broken bones or internal bleeding. She was only bruised, though her father had had the scare of his life. "It took 10 years off my life," he said. "You don't want to have to witness that."
The accident highlights a glaring problem that occurs each morning between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., Lidowsky said: parents dropping off their children. They speed, block traffic, double park, make illegal U-turns and even pass stopped school buses, all to make the drop-off at the hectic intersection of Covert and Tulip avenues as quickly as possible, she said.
Lidowsky said she also discourages parents from leaving their children at the service station, as Napolitano did. The walk across Covert Avenue is harrowing and unnecessarily imperils the students, she said. "Parents are not as careful as they should be," Lidowsky said.
But Napolitano said the school should be more proactive in establishing a designated area where parents can safely leave their children. "The school should do more," he said. "They should have a drop-off point in the back [parking lot]."
Lidowsky said the school has a crossing guard, but more visible law enforcement would deter drivers - including non-parents who speed through the intersection - from violating traffic laws. The 5th Precinct's Problem Oriented Policing Unit has handed out tickets recently, but doesn't have the manpower to be on constant watch. Though Sewanhaka is in Floral Park, the FPPD doesn't cover Covert Avenue.
"We have a great relationship with the [5th Precinct] police and understand they're stretched to the limit," Lidowsky said. "It's just that whatever help they can give, 7:15 to 7:45 in the morning, a half an hour, would make a world of difference for the safety of our students."
Officer Bill McCaffrey said the POP has responded to Lidowsky's requests to increase police presence, and was at Sewanhaka the week of the accident. But a permanent patrol, even for 30 minutes, is unlikely. "We deal with this every day," he said. "But Sewanhaka isn't the only school. Covert Avenue, Valley Stream South High School - they all have similar problems."
The POP, Lidowsky and Farina have written letters to the county, which owns and maintains Covert Avenue, to post school zone signs and to add a green-light arrow to the left eastbound lane of Tulip Avenue at the intersection with Covert Avenue, to no avail.
Each summer, Lidowsky sends home letters to parents of children who are new to the school, asking them to be cautious when dropping off their children. And each fall, when school reopens, she hopes they heed her warning. She doesn't want another Christina Napolitano incident. Or anything worse.
"I just consider us extremely lucky," said Ann Napolitano.
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