Ma can’t speak since daughter killed in SUV hit

The Staten Island mom of a 1-year-old girl struck by a Jeep driver is so inconsolable she hasn’t been able to speak since her daughter’s death, the tot’s grandfather told the Daily News.

“My daughter is crying night and morning. She can’t speak,” Khalid Khalil said of his grief-stricken daughter Sabreen Khalil, who was also struck by the driver. “She got hurt on her feet and her legs — not OK.”

Sabreen was crossing Abbott St. at Scarboro Ave. in Rosebank with daughter Lian Mashni (photo) at 7 a.m. Thursday when the driver of a white Jeep Cherokee made a left turn, plowing into both of them.

“The baby is in my memory every minute, every second,” Khalil said. “She was so happy. She was too smart. She never stopped dancing. God bless. I loved her too much.”

Neighbors described a heart-wrenching scene: The mom, her legs hurt from the impact, clinging to her dying little girl while wailing, “Please pray for my daughter! Please pray for my daughter!”

The driver, Shannon Cocozza, 40, of Staten Island, pulled over after the crash. Cocozza, who admitted to police she made a “hurried turn” onto Abbott St., was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. She was issued a desk appearance ticket.

“We don’t want to hurt the driver. Something happened from God. I mean, if [it is] her fault, the law has to do the right thing,” Khalil said.

“She made a mistake, she deserves whatever the law [says]. If she was on the phone or drunk, of course it would be different. I can’t believe she doesn’t see the mother, doesn’t see the baby.”

Sabreen Khalil was walking to her car to drive little Lian to day care, just like she did every morning. The driver first hit the mom, then twice struck daughter, stopping only after hearing the mother’s anguished screams, Khalid Khalil said.

Neighbors said Sabreen Khalil wouldn’t let her child go after the awful crash.

“We had to pull her off the baby,” neighbor Frances Garcia told The News on Thursday. “Everyone started screaming. It’s just a baby.”