Woman killed in North York hit-and-run was ‘active senior’

The latest victim of Toronto’s deadly streets has been identified as Pasquina Lapadula, a woman in her late 70s.

A family member and neighbour confirmed that Lapadula was the pedestrian struck by a driver in a hit-and-run crash in North York Thursday morning.

Sgt. Joe Kranjac, told the Star police have obtained security footage of her leaving the lobby of her building on Islington Avenue, to go for a morning walk, just before the crash. Kranjic described Lapadula as “a very active senior” who often walked near her home.

She was hit near Islington Avenue and Aviemore Drive, just north of Finch Avenue West, at about 6:30 a.m., Sgt. Jason Kraft told reporters at the scene.

The driver fled after the crash, Kraft said. Anyone who was there at the time or has dashcam video is urged to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

Police do have dashcam footage that appears to show a black SUV swerving around Lapadula’s body, Kranjac said. But that appears to have been a passing driver who didn’t stop to help, not a suspect in the hit-and-run, Kranjac said, calling the behaviour “troubling.”

“Morally, what kind of people are we?” he said. “This is getting ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, a 69-year-old woman has died in hospital about two weeks after a crash on Lawrence Avenue West near Dufferin Street, police said Thursday.

Police say the woman was driving out of a private driveway on Lawrence when she was hit by pickup truck driven by a 42-year-old man. The woman was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died in hospital on Wednesday.