A woman struck by a Queens box truck driver had just dropped off her 6-year-old daughter at school when she was killed in the crosswalk, her heartbroken family says.
Jenny Maribel Chacho Sánchez, 32, was heading to work after the school drop off when she was killed in the crosswalk on Gates Ave. at St. Nicholas Ave. in Ridgewood about 8:25 a.m. Friday, police said.
“She was happy, loving, caring,” her half-brother Christian Chacho said. “She was a great mother.”
The 49-year-old driver of the 2024 Freightliner, who was making a left turn, is facing no immediate charges as cops continue to investigate the crash.
The driver continued on his route after striking the victim, but was stopped by police about a block away from the scene, cops said. Investigators believe the driver did not realize he had hit the woman with his truck.
Chacho Sánchez suffered severe head and body injuries and was rushed to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she died.
“That was her last goodbye,” Chacho, 28, said of the school drop off. “What is hard is she died doing what she pretty much always loved to do: taking her daughter, she dropped her off to school.”
“That was like her little princess,” he added. “One of the biggest things for her was to see her daughter’s sweet 15.”
Chacho Sánchez, who was from Cuenca, Ecuador, immigrated to New York City in 2012 and had been working for years at a clothing shipping warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when she was killed.
She was just around the corner from her father’s home, where she had been staying with he daughter in recent months, when she was struck.
The victim’s days revolved around providing for her daughter. While she worked long hours, she paid a babysitter to pick the child up from school. After work, Chacho Sánchez would come home and cook for her daughter.
“[She worked a lot] just for her daughter… to make a good life [for her] and buy everything that she needs and have her comfortable,” the brother said.
Chacho Sánchez hoped to reunite her family by bringing her mother from Ecuador to the United States.
“She wanted to have her mother with her together,” her half-brother said. “They were working on the papers to bring her mother here.”
Meanwhile, Chacho Sánchez had plans to travel to Ecuador in August to visit her mother.
Now relatives and friends are trying to raise money via GoFundMe to send the victim’s body back to her hometown so her mother and other loved ones can say their final goodbyes.
“For my parents, in our culture, the parents have to be near you and give the last goodbye,” Christian said. “They want to take her back where she grew up.”
“She was the kindest person,” he added. “She loved to help everyone.”
At the intersection where she was struck, mourners set up a memorial at the base of a tree. Heart- and star-shaped balloons fluttered above bouquets of lilies and sunflowers, along with prayer candles and a photo of the victim.
“We don’t know what’s gonna happen next,” Chacho said. “You could leave the house and things can just happen. She was a young woman. It’s a shock.”
