Beloved grandmother mowed down by hit-and-run driver: “She was just everything to so many people”
By Jenna Deangelis
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NEW YORK (WCBS) — Police are searching for the hit-and-run driver who left a grandmother in the middle of the road in Brooklyn. She later died.
CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis obtained exclusive video of the car involved and got reaction from family members who want justice.
“She was just fun and lovable, kind,” Judith Donaldson said Tuesday.
Three heartbroken sisters shared how special their mother, Verna McKnight, was to everyone who knew her.
“The biggest heart, kindest, most giving, hardworking person you could ever come across,” Juliet McKnight-Francis said.
“She was just everything to so many people,” Michelle McKnight added.
That was all taken from them on Saturday night, when the 79-year-old was struck by a hit-and-run driver while exiting her parked car to get groceries.
Video shows Verna McKnight standing on Church Avenue near East 52nd Street when she was struck by a white van.
“I heard a loud noise. I saw people running. I also went out. I saw a lady laying on the ground and the white van that hit her was on the corner,” local business owner Savita Singh said.
The driver was seen getting out of the car, but police say the person eventually drove off.
“He saw her. He could have helped her,” Michelle McKnight said. “She did not deserve to die like this.”
“No one does,” McKnight-Francis added.
The mother of five moved to New York from Jamaica in the 1970s. Several years later, she brought her children here.
“My dad died about a year after we got here and she was mom and dad. That’s who she was. She was just everything,” McKnight-Francis said.
Her daughters said she worked hard to open a now decades-old beauty salon. That’s where a small memorial sits, not far from where she was killed.
Family members say they were planning Verna McKnight’s 80th birthday celebration in January and now they’re left without her and just begging the driver to please come forward.
“You wouldn’t want this to happen to your mother,” Michelle McKnight said.
“Just make it right. Do the right thing,” Donaldson said.
Verna McKnight was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, but could not be saved.
Police are looking for the driver of a white Econoline van.
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