A Queens mother of four riding an electric scooter was fatally struck by a drunken driver a few blocks from the victim’s home, police and heartbroken family members said Tuesday.
Blanca Arias was riding her Hiboy standup electric scooter in the bike lane when she was struck by the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic near Crescent St. and 30th Drive in Astoria about 1:45 a.m. on Jan. 4, cops said. The driver has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.
Arias, 54, was thrown from her scooter and hit her head on the asphalt. Suffering a massive brain injury, she was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where she was put on life support.
She died of her injuries at the hospital two days later, police sources said.
“After days in the ICU, we were notified that our mother was no longer in her body,” Kaleena Goldsworthy wrote in a GoFundMe post seeking donations to help with doctors’ bills and funeral expenses. “In a single, devastating moment, a preventable act forever changed our family’s lives and left us grappling with a loss that feels impossible to comprehend.”
“Our mother was more than just a victim of a tragic accident,” Goldsworthy added, noting that Arias was heading home and “just blocks away” from her house when she was hit.
“She was the heart of our family —a devoted wife, a fiercely loving mother, and a proud grandmother whose greatest joy was caring for and protecting those she loved.”
The GoFundMe post had raised more than $40,000 within 24 hours of its Monday launch.
Driver Ryan Rampersaud, 29, wasn’t hurt but reeked of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet when police arrived. He refused to take a Breathalyzer test, according to court documents.
Vomit was found in his Honda after the crash. “I threw up,” he told police, admitting he had about two beers five hours earlier.
He was initially charged with drunken driving and vehicular assault, but after Arias died prosecutors added a charge of vehicular manslaughter.
Police determined he was traveling south on Crescent St. and making a left turn onto 30th Drive when he rammed into Arias.
Cops on the scene noted that Arias was “bleeding from the head” when they arrived. At the hospital, investigators were told that she had suffered “severe brain trauma” and had been put on life support.
Rampersaud lives in South Jamaica, according to cops.
A Queens Criminal Court judge ordered him held on $50,000 bail during his arraignment on Jan. 4, then increased the bail to $100,000 when he was charged with vehicular manslaughter on Friday, three days after Arias died.
“She leaves behind her husband, four children, and beloved grandchildren, all of whom are now facing life without the woman who was their constant source of love, guidance, and stability,” Goldsworthy said in the GoFundMe post. “The void her absence has created can never truly be filled.”
With Emma Seiwell
