DEATH-CRASH COP WAS BRIDE-TO-BE
Along for ride in colleague’s SUV
A rookie NYPD cop planning to marry her high-school sweetheart was killed in a fiery crash near the police firing range in The Bronx, and the officer behind the wheel suffered horrific burns that could cost him his legs, sources said Thursday.
Bianca Bennett, 27, who worked out of the Ninth Precinct in the East Village, posted about her pending nuptials on Facebook Wednesday just hours before the 11:45 p.m. accident at City Island Road and Park Drive.
“Awww can’t wait for my wedding,” she wrote.
On Thursday, her fiancé, Michael Coleman, was seen hug- ging loved ones outside Bennett’s home in St. Albans, Queens. “I’m grieving right now,” he said. Sources say Bennett was a passenger in a red Dodge Durango driven by a fellow off-duty officer, who lost control and ran off the roadway. The SUV flipped and burst into flames.
“Suddenly, the car exploded. It was like a boom. Oh, my God,” said Maria Hutapea, 47, who works at Ohana, a Japanese restaurant on City Island.
A half-dozen passers-by rushed over to help after the vehicle burst into flames.
“People started screaming, ‘Oh, they’re moving! They’re moving!’ ” Hutapea recalled.
She said rescuers braved the flames in a bid to save the victims.
“Other motorists started honking at me, scared the explosion would hit them,” she said.
Bennett was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sources say the driver was 32year-old Sgt. Randolph Price, assigned to Police Service Area 4, a Manhattan housing unit.
He was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in serious but stable condition with burns over the lower half of his body. Sources said doctors may not be able to save his legs.
He was pulled from the wreckage by two off-duty NYPD officers driving home from the Rodman’s Neck shooting range, where they are assigned.
Bennett, who graduated from the Police Academy in September, was proud of being a cop.
“We made it to the news!” she wrote in December after a local TV news crew did a story about a precinct toy drive.
“OMG. What an honor I couldn’t have asked to work at a better command! I love my co-workers at the 9th Precinct.”
She added, “when u do something u love, u forget you’re on the clock!”
On Thursday, Bennett’s picture was displayed in tribute at the Ninth Precinct station house along with a bouquet of blue and white roses.
A note left with the bouquet read, “You may be gone but will never be forgotten.”