After a disastrous roll-over car crash, a New York woman miraculously survives, but was later killed as she went back into her wrecked vehicle to retrieve her belongings, reported the NY Post . At approximately 3:54 a.m. on Sunday, 25-year-old Brittany Leith of North Babylon was on her way home from a friend’s house, traveling on Southern State Parkway near Exit 36 when she suddenly struck the center of a median, causing her vehicle to flip.
The single mother of a three-year-old girl inexplicably survived the horrifying crash and was able to climb out of the inverted 2006 Nissan Sentra from a cracked window with the help of other motorists, who stopped their vehicles to help aide her. However, not long after she made her way to safety by crossing three lanes on the highway, she told the good Samaritans that she needed to go back to her vehicle to retrieve her personal belongings.
Although witnesses at the scene begged Leith not to run across the busy highway and back into her vehicle, she went anyhow, and that was a decision that cost the young mother her life. As she climbed inside of her vehicle and began gathering her belongings, the driver of a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu slammed into her car, killing the young mom.
The driver – whose name has been withheld – stated that he was passing into another lane and did not see the vehicle, as its lights were turned off after the crash. Just moments after Leith was fatally struck by the vehicle, a patrol car arrived at the scene, where he was also struck from behind by another passing vehicle as he was getting out of his patrol car. The officer was transported to Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Islip for his injuries, but his condition has yet to be released, according to the Daily Mail .
Following the incidents, New York police closed off the road, and it wasn’t reopened until 11 a.m. the same day.
After learning of Leith’s tragic death, her 73-year-old grandmother Claire Hansen stated that she has no idea how she’s going to tell her granddaughter Zoey that her mother isn’t coming home. Hansem said, “How do we tell this little girl? “She keeps saying, ‘Where’s Mommy? Where’s Mommy?’ She has a 3-year-old daughter, who doesn’t have a mother anymore.” She went on to say that “She was the best mother in the world. She loved Zoey more than anything.”
“I was told someone was there to help her out of the car, but she could have hit her head and been out of it. Somebody should have held on to her and not let her run back into the street. This should not have happened.”
Before her sudden death, Leith had gone back to cosmetology school to obtain her beauty license. She had started once before but soon dropped out; however, she was finally back on the right trajectory and her grandmother was “so proud of her.” She said, “It’s just not fair sometimes. Life isn’t fair.” Leith was also working at the Hair Revue & Co. hair salon in West Babylon, who posted their condolences via Facebook that read: “With sincere pain in our hearts, we the staff of the Hair Revue mourn the loss of our co-worker and friend Brittany Leith…Your kind heart and beautiful smile will be missed…May you rest in peace sweet girl.”
New York police officials have yet to file any criminal charges in the car crash that took the life of Brittany Leith, but an investigation is underway. If anyone has any information, they are urged to contact Troop L. Headquarters at 631-756-3300.
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