‘I can’t do this’
Anguished final note of driver who killed 2 tots
The seizure-prone Staten Island woman who fatally mowed down two young children earlier this year ended her life with an overdose of pills, police said Wednesday.
Dorothy Bruns, 45, was found dead, face-up in bed at her Concord apartment just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, surrounded by bottles of antidepressants and other pills, with a suicide note nearby, sources said.
The final missive said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore,” and granted a close friend power of attorney, police sources said.
“Anytime somebody takes their own life, it’s profoundly sad,” Mayor de Blasio said. “This is just an extremely painful case from moment one, and I wish none of it had come to pass.”
Bruns was facing manslaughter and other charges in the March 5 crash that killed 4-year-old Abigail Blumenstein and 1-year-old Joshua Lew as they crossed the corner of Ninth St. and Fifth Ave. in Park Slope with their mothers.
Abigail’s mother, Broadway actress Ruthie Ann Miles — who won a Tony award for “The King and I” in 2015 — was 39 weeks pregnant and lost that baby in May.
Joshua’s mother, Lauren Lew, survived her injuries.
Prosecutors said Bruns drove her Volvo S60 despite repeated doctors’ warnings that her history of seizures made her a lethal road risk.
She blacked out, ran a red light, mowed down the children and kept going, dragging Joshua’s stroller more than 350 feet before hitting a parked car.
Bruns was charged in a 10-count indictment, was facing the prospect of 15 years in prison.
She posted $75,000 bond on Sept. 5 after spending more than four months behind bars and was beaten by another inmate on Rikers Island, her lawyer said at a June bail hearing.
Bruns, who also suffered from multiple sclerosis, had a spotty driving history, with a dozen traffic violations since 2016 — including speeding in a school zone and running multiple red lights.
A woman who lives on her block said Bruns spent most of her time in her home after the crash. “The only time I saw her out (was) when she had that walker. I think she got hurt in the crash too,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “It’s a shame but these things happen. I know she didn’t go out that day wanting to kill people.”
Park Slope Councilman Brad Lander tweeted that he was “really saddened” by Bruns suicide.
“We need a world with far more room for the kind of accountability that offers change, healing and redemption,” Lander (D-Brooklyn) tweeted, encouraging the passage of the reckless driver accountability act, which will keep dangerous drivers off the road.
Miles’ attorney Ben Rubinowitz said, “Ruthie and Jonathan are suffering terribly,” Rubinowitz said.