Backhoe death horror Video shows nurse crushed in Brooklyn street
Murder raps after teen’s body found
Disturbing video shows a hardworking Brooklyn nurse getting struck and run over by a reversing construction backhoe.
Estelle Davis, 61, was found mortally injured near New Lots and Van Sinderen Aves. in East New York about 2:20 p.m. on Friday, cops said.
Davis, who appeared to be looking down at her phone as she navigated the crosswalk, was described by loved ones as a nurse and caregiver who worked seven days a week and served as a pastor on Sundays.
Cops initially didn’t have a description of the vehicle that struck her, saying only that they suspected she was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Her family learned she was run over by the backhoe from media reports.
“I don’t see how he wouldn’t have seen her,” Davis’ cousin Alisha told the Daily News on Sunday after viewing the video.
“They should have had the workers with the flags . ... It’s painful.”
First responders rushed Davis to Brookdale University Hospital, but she couldn’t be saved.
The backhoe appeared to come from a construction site on that corner, where a new building is going up. But there have been no arrests, and police are still working to determine who was operating the heavy machinery.
Detectives are investigating any potential contractors on the job and workers onsite at the time, police said.
“Estelle — she has a heart of gold, always willing to help people,” her grieving husband, Cleveland Thomas, 59, said Saturday. “She would save the whole world if she could.”
The construction site has been hit with five violations and 15 complaints since 2016, according to Buildings Department records.
The most recent complaint, from Jan. 2, was for failure to provide proper training and comply with Transportation Department regulations, records show.
That complaint was reviewed Jan. 6, and an order to stop construction was fully rescinded, according to Buildings Department records.
The management company in charge of the site did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Family members said Davis was on her way to her job as a nurse when she was struck. She had a second job at a home-care facility in Jamaica, Queens.
“She was a pastor, she owns the title of schoolteacher and a nurse, so she’s extremely people-oriented.
“And she’s always willing to help others who are in need,” said Thomas. “She’s dedicated to people.”
Two men were charged with murder Sunday after a homeless teen was found dead wrapped in plastic inside the abandoned Manhattan Fulton Fish Market building in lower Manhattan, police said.
Austin Boehm, 25, and Christian Mercado, 20, were charged a day after they called 911 reporting the 19-year-old woman was dead on the second floor of the building at 95 South St. in the South Street Seaport District, cops said.
Police believe the victim, Rosalee Sanchez, was living in a homeless encampment in the abandoned fish market. One of the arrested men was her boyfriend and both are homeless.
Cops responding to the 911 call found the men in the building with the dead body, police said. There were no obvious signs of trauma on the young woman, but cops canvassing the building found a fresh pool of blood in an adjacent room, sources said. The city medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine how Sanchez died.
The two suspects have been uncooperative with police since they were taken into custody, sources said.