COURIER LIFE, AUGUST 13-19, 2021 19
Bergen Beach
woman dead after
Crown Heights drag
racing hit-and-run
A Bergen Beach woman was fatally struck by someone driving
this car in Crown Heights on Aug. 9. Photos by Lloyd Mitchell
BY BEN BRACHFELD
One person was
killed and another was
hospitalized after being
struck by a drag-racing
driver on Utica Avenue
in Crown Heights early
Monday morning, Aug.9.
The collision occurred
at around 3 am
on Utica Ave near Eastern
Parkway, cops say.
Responding offi cers
found 20-year-old Aniya
Blandon of Bergen Beach
unconscious and unresponsive
at the scene,
along with a 23-year-old
man with minor injuries
to his legs.
Both were taken to
Kings County Hospital,
where Blandon was pronounced
dead. The man
is in stable condition, according
to authorities.
The two were reportedly
hit by a driver in a
red Dodge Charger, who
also hit a pole on the
curb and spun out of control.
The car ended up
sideways in the middle of
Utica Avenue in front of
a Popeyes, where it still
was around 8 am.
ABC7 reports that the
Dodge driver was drag
racing on Utica Avenue
with two other motorists,
when they jumped the
curb and struck the two
pedestrians. The driver
then fl ed the scene in one
of the other two vehicles.
The NYPD is investigating
the incident but
has not made any arrests.
Utica and Eastern
Parkway was the site of
another fatal traffi c collision
earlier this year. In
April, 59-year-old Lance
Margolin was killed after
an MTA bus crashed
into a pole on Eastern
Parkway that subsequently
fell onto him.
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