The Bobster
06-23-2010, 02:02 PM
http://www./news/ny_crime/2010/06/22/2010-06-22_robbery_suspect_fleeing_police_in_harlem_kills_ nun_in_getaway_attempt.html
Robbery suspect fleeing police in Harlem kills nun in getaway attempt
By Oren Yaniv and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Tuesday, June 22nd 2010, 1:04 PM
Updated: Wednesday, June 23rd 2010, 1:52 AM
Robbery suspects fleeing from cops tore through the streets of Harlem on Tuesday, smashing into another car in a wild crash that killed a dedicated Catholic nun.
Steel crumpled and glass shattered when a Chrysler Pacifica that had been speeding at more than 60 mph blew through a red light and collided with a Honda Odyssey.
http://assets./img/2010/06/23/amd_sister_graham.jpg
When it was over, Sister Mary Celine Graham, 84, lay crushed in the street.
The smashup also sent a suburban mom to the hospital with bleeding on the brain and injured three others.
"It sounded like an explosion," said witness Wayne Harris, who owns a nearby barbershop. "They started doing 360s."
The chaos erupted after an unmarked police car pulled over a Pacifica with three people inside near the corner of Lenox and W. 140th St., police sources said.
The car matched a description of a vehicle used in a pair of armed robberies Monday, police sources said. Investigators also suspected it was used as a getaway car in a robbery of a Columbia University student early yesterday.
The driver of the Pacifica, 18-year-old William Robbins, stepped out of the car and surrendered to police, but a passenger scooted over behind the steering wheel and sped off, police sources said.
As a second NYPD patrol car followed, the Pacifica raced 18 blocks down Lenox and swerved to avoid a street sweeper at the corner of W. 122nd St., witnesses said.
It then crashed into the Honda Odyssey driven by Amy Feinberg, of Montvale, N.J., and went careening into pedestrians, witnesses told cops.
"I heard two cars skidding," said Raul Carrasquillo, 32, who was in his apartment above the crash scene. "I saw a crash and bodies on the floor."
Graham, who lived at Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary convent on W. 124th St., was walking with her health aide, Patricia Cruz, to a physical therapy appointment in the moments before the 9:20 a.m. crash.
Graham was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and raised in Detroit. She joined her order in 1948 and was a longtime preschool teacher in Harlem and Staten Island.
"We are still in shock at the loss of our sister, a woman of strong faith and courage," said the convent's mother superior, Sister Loretta Theresa Richards.
Her aide's family said they could not bear to break the news to Cruz that Graham had died. "She keeps asking about Sister Mary and we just tell her to rest," said Cruz's daughter, Delia Seelal. "She and my mom had a close relationship."
NYPD cops are not supposed to engage in high-speed car chases because of high risk of injury to innocent bystanders.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman, could not say when the second patrol car joined the chase or how fast it was going. "The people responsible for the injuries and death are the armed robbers who fled the scene," Browne said.
Cruz, 50, and a biker, 26-year-old Steven Phan, suffered serious injuries but are expected to survive, officials said.
Feinberg was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and was in stable condition. Her 15-year-old son, Jared, suffered minor injuries.
The Pacifica's driver and rear passenger kicked open the crumpled door and ran through the crowds, police said. They remain at large.
A gun was found in the SUV's backseat, police said.
Robbery suspect fleeing police in Harlem kills nun in getaway attempt
By Oren Yaniv and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Tuesday, June 22nd 2010, 1:04 PM
Updated: Wednesday, June 23rd 2010, 1:52 AM
Robbery suspects fleeing from cops tore through the streets of Harlem on Tuesday, smashing into another car in a wild crash that killed a dedicated Catholic nun.
Steel crumpled and glass shattered when a Chrysler Pacifica that had been speeding at more than 60 mph blew through a red light and collided with a Honda Odyssey.
http://assets./img/2010/06/23/amd_sister_graham.jpg
When it was over, Sister Mary Celine Graham, 84, lay crushed in the street.
The smashup also sent a suburban mom to the hospital with bleeding on the brain and injured three others.
"It sounded like an explosion," said witness Wayne Harris, who owns a nearby barbershop. "They started doing 360s."
The chaos erupted after an unmarked police car pulled over a Pacifica with three people inside near the corner of Lenox and W. 140th St., police sources said.
The car matched a description of a vehicle used in a pair of armed robberies Monday, police sources said. Investigators also suspected it was used as a getaway car in a robbery of a Columbia University student early yesterday.
The driver of the Pacifica, 18-year-old William Robbins, stepped out of the car and surrendered to police, but a passenger scooted over behind the steering wheel and sped off, police sources said.
As a second NYPD patrol car followed, the Pacifica raced 18 blocks down Lenox and swerved to avoid a street sweeper at the corner of W. 122nd St., witnesses said.
It then crashed into the Honda Odyssey driven by Amy Feinberg, of Montvale, N.J., and went careening into pedestrians, witnesses told cops.
"I heard two cars skidding," said Raul Carrasquillo, 32, who was in his apartment above the crash scene. "I saw a crash and bodies on the floor."
Graham, who lived at Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary convent on W. 124th St., was walking with her health aide, Patricia Cruz, to a physical therapy appointment in the moments before the 9:20 a.m. crash.
Graham was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and raised in Detroit. She joined her order in 1948 and was a longtime preschool teacher in Harlem and Staten Island.
"We are still in shock at the loss of our sister, a woman of strong faith and courage," said the convent's mother superior, Sister Loretta Theresa Richards.
Her aide's family said they could not bear to break the news to Cruz that Graham had died. "She keeps asking about Sister Mary and we just tell her to rest," said Cruz's daughter, Delia Seelal. "She and my mom had a close relationship."
NYPD cops are not supposed to engage in high-speed car chases because of high risk of injury to innocent bystanders.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman, could not say when the second patrol car joined the chase or how fast it was going. "The people responsible for the injuries and death are the armed robbers who fled the scene," Browne said.
Cruz, 50, and a biker, 26-year-old Steven Phan, suffered serious injuries but are expected to survive, officials said.
Feinberg was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and was in stable condition. Her 15-year-old son, Jared, suffered minor injuries.
The Pacifica's driver and rear passenger kicked open the crumpled door and ran through the crowds, police said. They remain at large.
A gun was found in the SUV's backseat, police said.