A beloved healthcare worker was fatally struck down in the parking lot of Staten Island University Hospital, where she had worked for 25 years, heartbroken family and friends said Friday.
Cops on Thursday arrested the driver who caused the fatal Dec. 11 crash, charging him with failure to yield, police said.
Kathleen Murphy, 64, was on her way to work, walking through the parking lot of the hospital’s north campus near Mason and Seaview Aves. in Dongan Hills at about 6:45 a.m. when Surija Bajro’s Volkswagen Atlas rammed into her.
Murphy was immediately rushed into the hospital, which was just paces away, but she couldn’t be saved.
A memorial, which included a sketch of Murphy, was left next to passenger pick-up roundabout outside the hospital door where she was hit.
“We were fortunate to have you! We love you!” the sketch artist wrote on their creation.
Murphy was just 500 feet from the hospital’s front doors when she was hit, officials said.
Bajro, 67, had just dropped his wife off at the hospital for a procedure and was making a left turn out of the roundabout when he struck Murphy in the crosswalk, cops said.
He remained on the scene and was criminally charged with failure to yield about a month later. He was also charged with failure to exercise due care. Both are traffic violations.
He’s expected to answer the charges in Staten Island criminal court in a few weeks.
Murphy was a Staten Island native who dedicated her life to helping people, relatives said. For more than two decades, she worked for Staten Island University Hospital, where she worked in environmental services and cleaned patient rooms.
“If you knew her, you most certainly loved her and had something nice to say about her sweet demeanor,” her online obit read. “She lived her life day to day helping any and everyone who came across her path. She was known for always having a smile on her face and a kind word to say.”
The lifelong healthcare worker was just 20 days away from retiring. She and her wife Kathleen Penachio were excited to move to New Jersey to be close to Penachio’s family. She was already considering working part-time at a nursing home in her retirement, relatives said.
“Everyday she found a small way to cheer someone up, or just have a small chat with a patient who needed it,” they said. “She lived doing small acts of kindness which embodied her selfless, humble nature.”