An elderly great-grandmother, mother of three and longtime resident of South Queens died last week after being struck by a car as she was crossing an accident-prone Howard Beach intersection—which police have tried to get the city to address for years.
According to the police accident report, Lucille Gross, 72, of Ozone Park, was walking south across the crosswalk towards 157th Avenue at the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard sometime around 3 p.m. on Feb. 20 when she was struck by a 2006 Honda sedan going westbound on 157th Avenue.
The driver of the car, identified in the report as William Maiurro, 21, of Farmingville—who was accompanied by a female passenger—told police at the scene that he was attempting to make a left turn southbound onto Cross Bay Boulevard as he drove down 157th Avenue when his car slammed into Gross on her right side as she was crossing the street. Gross was conscious at the scene, but was unable to give a statement due to her injuries; Maiurro was not intoxicated at the time of the incident, police confirmed.
Police sources told The Forum that while Maiurro—who is not facing charges stemming from the accident—apparently did not run a red light while driving towards the intersection, at the same time, the pedestrian light across the street where Gross was crossing signaled for her to cross; meaning that Maiurro and Gross each technically had clearance to go down the street simultaneously at the time of the accident.
According to figures kept by the 106th Precinct, the Feb. 20 accident marked the sixth traffic related accident at the intersection of 157th Avenue and Cross Bay Boulevard this year, four of which resulted in injury. Gross’s death marks the first accident-caused fatality at that intersection this year. In 2011, police documented at least 33 traffic accidents
Lucille Gross, 72, in a picture taken last summer. Gross died last week after being hit by a car as she was crossing the street at the intersection of 157th Avenue and Cross Bay Boulevard. Photo Courtesy of the Gross family.
at that same intersection.
Sources at the 106th Precinct—who identified the intersection as an accident-prone area—said that they have made several recommendations in the past to the city to make changes at that intersection, such as adding a left traffic signal at the traffic light where Gross was struck and adding more cautionary traffic signs for crossing pedestrians. However, those requests have been denied for unspecified reasons.
April McManus, one of Gross’s three children and with whom Gross was living, said that after checking her mother’s receipts, she concluded Gross had apparently been shopping for groceries at the nearby Waldbaum’s on Cross Bay Boulevard and had gone to CVS afterwards to purchase medications.
As she did not have a driver’s license, Gross commuted between places via bus, on foot or by getting a ride from her family, McManus said. That day, she had gone to Howard Beach from her Ozone Park home by taking the Q41 bus.
Gross was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was rushed to the emergency room after suffering head injuries, blunt face trauma, and a broken pelvis as a result of the accident.
Jamaica Hospital only confirmed that she arrived at the hospital, but did not disclose her condition or confirm her death. Gross died in the afternoon on Feb. 22, two days after the accident, according to family, friends and police, who were informed afterwards by the state Medical Examiner’s Office—who handled Gross’s autopsy.
McManus said that her family is currently consulting with their attorney regarding any further action regarding the accident.
Gross was buried Sunday at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingville at a family plot next to her son, Russell, who died in 2006. She is survived by her daughters, McManus and Cheryl Brymer, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
McManus, who works at Rockaway Animal Hospital in Far Rockaway, said that she had no idea that her mother was out shopping that day and would have offered to take her if she knew. She was notified of the accident later that day while at work by her sister, Brymer, as it happened to be witnessed by a friend of her family, who called Cheryl.
However, the lasting image of her mother that McManus and friends of Gross remember was not of a woman who was killed in a tragic car accident, but one of a healthy, robust woman who loved her children and playing with and babysitting her now-adult six grandchildren—P.J., 30, Ryan, 28, Brandi, 24, Kerri, 26, Kenny, 24, and Kristin, 22—and her young great-grandchildren Sophia, 5, Michael, 2, Damien, 15 months, with another great-grandchild due this August.
Born in Brooklyn on Mar. 31, 1939, Gross grew up in East Hamilton Beach before moving to Howard Beach in her mid 20s and eventually residing in Ozone Park in her final years, where she lived with McManus and her husband, Michael McManus. Gross retired after working several years at Nassau University Medical Center.
“She knew so many people in the community,” McManus said of her mother, who she noted was an outgoing woman and also an avid reader of The Forum for many years. “She always had to have a copy of the local paper because she wanted to know everything about what was happening in her community. She was just a well-loved, giving person.”
George Hollis, 80, of Hamilton Beach, said he knew Gross since she was 5 years old. Both grew up on the same street, Charleston Road in East Hamilton Beach.
A longtime friend of hers, Hollis described Gross as a “very sweet woman” who loved her children and grandchildren.
“Her mother used to dress her up so fancy in white gloves and a white dress,” Hollis said, recalling seeing Gross on the steps of her East Hamilton Beach home. “She was like a perfect little lady.”
The last time Hollis saw Gross was at his family’s annual reunion party last July in Bohemia, Long Island, which Gross frequented as she was considered part of his family, having lived for a time with Gross’s relatives.
“She was very gentle; she wouldn’t even hurt a fly,” Hollis said.
Hollis added that the Cross Bay Boulevard and 157th Avenue intersection was very dangerous – he said he was nearly hit by a truck himself once while crossing the street.
“They really should do something about that [street],” he said.
Gross also enjoyed writing poetry in her spare time, and published several pieces in previous years. One untitled poem written by Gross that McManus gave The Forum, dedicated to Gross’s late son Russell, ended with these final words: “Some day we will all reunite, at the gates of that heavenly sight, And that wonderful presence we miss so much will be, there to greet us all, you will see.”
By Jean-Paul Salamanca
jp.salamanca@theforumnewsgroup.com
