‘She was as sweet as they came’
Daughter of woman killed by driver on Atlantic mourns loss of mother, grandmother
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The daughter of Alina Morales,
the 62-year-old woman
killed by a driver on Atlantic
Avenue in Boerum Hill last
week, is spending the holidays
mourning the loss of her
mother, who she said was a
caring and kind woman.
“She was as sweet as they
came,” said Alina Cardi, who
shares her late mom’s fi rst
name. “She had her nickname
‘Sugar’ — she didn’t get that
nickname for nothing.”
Morales was struck and
killed on Atlantic Avenue between
Third Avenue and Nevins
Street on the evening of
Nov. 22, when Jasen Nhambiu
allegedly hit her while driving
without a license, and the victim’s
daughter said the death
came as a shock, just days
ahead of their plans to celebrate
Thanksgiving.
“Due to this man’s reckless
behavior she didn’t get to
spend Thanksgiving with her
grandchildren,” Cardi said.
Originally from the Bronx,
Morales moved to Kings
County about four years ago,
but regularly helped out her
four children and six grandchildren,
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according to Cardi.
“She was a loving mom
and caring grandmother,” she
said. “With COVID and having
to take care of children,
you go to the person to help
with childcare but that person
is no longer there.”
Nhambiu, who works as
a lawyer for a hospital in the
Bronx, avoided felony charges
after registering below the
drunk driving limit in a preliminary
fi eld breath test,
but still faces traffi c offenses
equivalent to misdemeanors,
according to a complaint fi led
by the Brooklyn District Attorney
Eric Gonzalez’s offi ce
on Nov. 24.
He allegedly smelled of
booze and slurred his speech,
according to cops on the
scene, but refused to submit to
a more sophisticated breathalyzer
after police took him to
the local precinct.
He was also driving without
a license and with his two
sons in the car, according to
authorities, and Cardi told
Brooklyn Paper she believes
he got off too lightly.
“I don’t feel like it’s fair that
they’re trying to let him get a
slap on the wrist,” she said.
“Charges like that basically
say it’s ok to take a life like
that and it’s a misdemeanor.
You altered not only my life
but several of our lives.”
To cover their mother’s funeral
expenses, Cardi and her
siblings have launched an online
fundraiser, which has
already garnered more than
$2,500 out of a goal of $8,000 as
of Monday evening.
“We have a long way to go
for us to heal and process,” she
said. “We’re looking to give
her a proper funeral so she
can fi nally be laid to rest.”
Alina Morales, who was killed by a driver on Nov. 22, with her granddaughter Mia. Provided by Morales’s family
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