HIT-AND-RUN ENDS DREAM
Killed a year after immigrating
A hardworking mother of three killed by a hit-and-run driver in Manhattan cherished her new life in America.
Maria Christina Villacres and her family had immigrated just last year from Ecuador to a three-family home in Corona, Queens. She landed a job five months ago as a cleaner at a Whole Foods in Chelsea to help make ends meet.
But their American Dream was cut short early Sunday morning when a vehicle struck Villacres, 29, right as she was leaving work — and her devastated husband, Edwin Chacon, says he’s reeling with grief.
“I feel beaten up. … I feel terrible and angry,” Chacon, 30, told the Daily News in Spanish, as he sat on a white sofa in the living room he once shared with his high school sweetheart.
“My family just moved to America a year ago, and now my wife won’t be able to see our children grow up here,” he said, tears streaming down his cheeks as two family members consoled him.
“They are still little so they don’t really understand yet,” he said of their children. “But I worry about when they do. I worry about how they will cope about not having their mom.”
Villacres was walking east across Seventh Ave. at W. 24th St. when she was struck by a vehicle headed downtown about 5:05 a.m. on Sunday, according to cops.
First responders found Villacres unconscious with injuries to her head and body. Medics rushed her to Bellevue Hospital, but she could not be saved.
The driver never stopped as he turned left on W. 23rd
St., police said. No arrests have been made.
There have been 126 traffic fatalities citywide since January, NYPD data show — slightly lower than the 138 deaths during the same period last year.
At least 49 pedestrians have been killed by cars on city streets through July, compared with 67 last year.
Chacon — who met Villacres when they were teenagers growing up in Ecuador — said they wanted to raise their kids in the United States.
“We come to America for the reason of giving my children a better future — and that they have a little comfort in life, that this is a country of many opportunities,” Chacon said.
He said his wife doted on their two sons, 12 and 7, and their daughter, 3, often taking them to the park to play a game of soccer.
It’s those memories, he said, that he wants his children to remember in the years to come.
“She was a wonderful mother and was always a fighter,” he said. “I want everyone to treasure the moments they have with their loved ones. Because at any moment, in just a second, it could all be taken away.”