Medical Issue Investigated In Fatal Bronx Crash

As investigators look into whether a medical problem may have caused a motorist to plow into a family in the Bronx, killing a 10-year-old girl and two others, mourners remembered the victims.

“I had a lot of dreams for Nyanna. I had so many plans for her,” Natalia Perez said the day after her daughter, Nyanna Aquil, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Nyanna’s 3-year-old sister was hospitalized.

Perez’s 65-year-old father, Louis Perez, suffered severe head trauma and died at the scene Saturday night when the car jumped a curb in the Bronx, leaving behind mangled bodies as neighbors ran to help.

Another man, 24-year-old Kristian Leka, also was killed. His 9-year-old sister and a 21-year-old passenger were injured, but not critically.

As a crowd gathered for a candlelight vigil on Sunday night, police were examining whether the 52-year-old driver may have suffered a medical emergency such as a seizure. A preliminary investigation showed the car was not speeding at the time of the crash, and no drugs or alcohol were found in his system, police said.

The black Dodge Charger plowed into the pedestrians on a sidewalk and then smashed through a fence in front of a home.

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the November 3rd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.