Woman and 2 of Her Children Are Killed in Brooklyn Car Accident

A 35-year-old woman and two of her children, who were taking a walk, were killed on Saturday afternoon in southern Brooklyn after two cars collided and one veered into a crosswalk, the police said.

The identities of the victims have not yet been released by the authorities, but during a news conference on Saturday, the police confirmed that the woman and two children, girls ages 6 and 8, had died in the immediate aftermath of the collision. The woman’s 4-year-old son was injured in the accident and was transported to Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park in critical condition, the police said.

A total of 10 people, six of them children, were taken to nearby hospitals after the collision.

Mayor Eric Adams, who spoke at the news conference, called the event “a tragic, tragic accident of a Shakespearean proportion.”

“This is extremely concerning and painful,” he said. “A mother going for a simple stroll on a sunny day was struck and killed.”

According to initial reports from the authorities, the accident occurred just after 1 p.m. when a silver Toyota Camry carrying two adults and three children collided with a blue Audi A3 sedan at the intersection of Quentin Road and Ocean Parkway, at the border of the Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods.

The 62-year-old man driving the Toyota was attempting to turn right onto Ocean Parkway and had just turned into the intersection when his car’s back bumper was struck by the Audi. The impact of the collision pushed his car to the side, while the Audi shot forward, striking the woman and her children before flipping over, the police said.

Emergency medical workers arrived shortly after the crash and transported the driver of the Audi, a 32-year-old woman, to a hospital in Sunset Park.

The medical workers took the man driving the Toyota to a hospital on Coney Island. The other passengers in the Toyota were also taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. All of the passengers in both cars were in stable condition on Saturday afternoon, the police said.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the accident, but the police said that the Audi’s driver had a suspended license. The authorities said they were also investigating whether the speed of the vehicles had played a role in the collision, and whether the Audi’s driver had run a red light or been drunk at the time.

There have been 35 traffic fatalities in New York City so far this year, according to data provided by the Police Department. The number represents a 42 percent decrease from the same period last year, which saw an usually high number of pedestrian deaths compared with 2023.

The city said last year that both automated speed cameras and red-light cameras had helped reduce traffic deaths, but experts said that some drivers were still skirting penalties by obscuring their license plates. The Police Department has launched several operations this year to crack down on such violations.

“I will call it like it is: This was a horrific tragedy caused by someone who shouldn’t have been on the road,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Saturday. “A mother and two young children killed, another child fighting for his life, a family and neighborhood devastated in an instant.”