No charges filed in crash that killed 70-year-old Yonkers woman

No charges will be filed in connection with a car crash that killed a 70-year-old woman in Yonkers last June.

Veronica Jean Seltzer

Oct 18, 2023, 10:36 PM

Updated 281 days ago

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The family of a Yonkers woman is furious after learning the driver who hit and killed her won't face charges
It's highly likely you knew Christine Kenny-O'Rourke if you lived in Yonkers.
"She was just everywhere all at once," her sister, Susan Henry, said.
Her family joked she was running for mayor.
"My sister was sensitive, curious, smart..." Henry said.
She was a lifelong Yonkers resident known for an impressive career at IBM, tireless volunteer work and unfortunately, for the way she died.
"My sister was roadkill, and nobody cares," Henry said.
Her sister was killed last June blocks from home when a 54-year-old White Plains woman drove across traffic, hit the 70-year-old on the sidewalk, jumped a retaining wall and crashed into a home with three people inside.
"I think I screamed, and my son caught my phone and I stood in the corner and closed my eyes for ten minutes because I didn't want to see a world with my sister not in it," Henry said.
Now, to Susan Henry, not only is her sister not in it, but neither is justice.
"There has to be some law that was broken," Henry said.
The district attorney and Yonkers police say there wasn't, calling it a "...terribly tragic accident, and not a criminal act."
"We understand this outcome is extremely difficult to accept while processing profound loss," they wrote in a statement.
"We are devastated. We are angry. It's a bottomless pit of sadness, anger, and now bitterness," Henry said.
She has questions about the investigation. She says the report notes around the time of the crash the driver had a missed call and was never questioned about whether she was looking for her phone.
"She was not intoxicated. The car was sound so what happened?"
It's what Harris still hopes to figure out. She says this isn't over.
"Everyone who loved and knew my sister, we do not accept this," she said.
Yonkers police say concerns about speeding after the crash prompted them to study the area for about four months with radar.
They say the average speed of all cars was 28 mph, which is two miles under the speed limit.
EXTENDED INTERVIEW


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