L.I. Mother Riding Bicycle Critically Injured By Hit-And-Run Driver
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A tragic hit-and-run on Long Island left a beloved mother, who was bicycling to her children's school critically injured.
Police are now searching for the suspect and seeking witnesses as the victim fights for her life.
Ellen Meany, 45, of Massapequa, was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition with serious head injuries.
The incident occurred when Meany was cycling southbound -- against traffic -- right outside Unqua Elementary school. She accidentally banged into the mirror of a parked car and fell off her bike. Police said a passing motorist crushed the bicycle and helpless victim and never slowed down.
"She sideswiped the mirror, lost control of bicycle, fell off the bicycle and was hit by a vehicle that was traveling northbound on Unqua," Nassau County police detective Vincent Garcia said.
Distraught parents and neighbors met with school leaders. Classmates of some of the victim's three young children needed soothing too.
"Now what do you tell her children...just gives you the chills," the victim's neighbor Patricia Burns said.
A school security camera captured surveillance of the possible hit-and-run vehicle -- a Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable said to be pacific blue in color somewhere between model years 1996 to 1999.
Meany's devastated family was at her bedside and her close-knit neighborhood is overwhelmed with sorrow.
"Where's the heart on this person? Everybody's got a cellphone, he should have immediately stopped, called 911, got an ambulance," the victim's neighbor Steven D'Ambrose said.
"Especially in front of an elementary school. I don't know what person in their right mind would do something like that," said student Sheila Nolan.
"Who would have the heart to drive away? How could you leave someone hurting there?" said student Emily Stapleton.
As Meany fights to recover, detectives are scouring body shops for the hit-and-run vehicle.
Police are asking anyone who was in the area Thursday around 11:30 a.m. and saw anything suspicious to contact them.
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