New Mom Dead, Several Others Injured When Car Plunges Into Marsh Near JFK; Driver Charged With DWI
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A new mother died Tuesday and three others were injured, after a car an off Brookville Boulevard and plunged into a marsh near Jamaica Bay in Queens early Sunday.
As CBS 2's Don Dahler reported, firefighters launched a frantic rescue effort in the murky waters following the accident. Five of the six people in the car made it out alive, but not Dominique Jamison, a proud graduate of York College.
"She left behind a 7-month-old daughter because somebody wanted to be drunk and high and stupid," said her mother, Lenay Jamison.
Jamison was pronounced dead on arrival at Jamaica Hospital.
The driver, Denise Finley, 32, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and operating a vehicle without a license, police said Sunday afternoon. Finley was taken into custody at the scene and had been questioned by police all morning.
1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten reports
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And Mrs. Jamison is left to raise her little granddaughter, named Journey.
"She will know who Dominique Jamison was," Mrs. Jamison said.
Dominique Jamison's older brother can't believe what happened.
"She was like a shining star, like she stood out from everybody in the neighborhood," added her older brother, Darrell Jamison.
Darrell Jamison was grateful he was able to see his sister for the holidays.
"I got to spend yesterday with her," he said. "All day we had fun; party with the family."
Mrs. Jamison said her daughter had planned to become an actress.
She said what happened to her daughter occurs way too often.
"They really need to get this together, with these young kids out here – senseless drinking, drugging and driving, and taking innocent lives," she said.
Mrs. Jamison said her daughter and Finley had known each other since childhood. She said she never knew Finley to be trouble, until now.
The car was traveling on a narrow, curvy road off of Rockaway Boulevard near a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport when it went off the road and into a few feet of water around 4:30 a.m.
There was confusion at the crash scene. Two people in the 2000 Ford Focus fled, but firefighters didn't know it, so they kept searching for them. In the end, they realized Jamison was the only victim.
More than a dozen divers searched the freezing cold waters after extricating the car to look for the two others who turned out to have fled. Six firefighters were treated for hypothermia following the search, 1010 WINS reported.
Brookville Boulevard is commonly known as Snake Road for its dangerous curves.
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