DRIVER KILLED HER & FLED
Mom was on way to job at famed B’klyn bagel shop
Francine LaBarbara left home a little earlier than usual — and never made it to work.
The 57-year-old Brooklyn mom was mowed down Tuesday morning by a hitand-run driver, leaving behind her 16-year-old twin sons and a brokenhearted lifelong pal.
“We were best friends for 40 years,” said Scott Rusillo, owner of The Bagel Store in Williamsburg. “We grew up here, in the same neighborhood.”
The woman was struck by a dark-colored van near the corner of W. Second St. and Avenue Y in Gravesend about 8 a.m., cops said. The killer did not stop, and LaBarbara was pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.
“She was picking up some supplies (for the store),” said Rusillo. “That’s when she got hit.”
The victim was making her usual morning stop at the Key Foods on Avenue Z and W. Second St., arriving a lit-schedule tle ahead of her usual when the doors opened at about 7:20 a.m.
“She never comes that early,” said cashier Panida Vayns, 32. “I just checked her out and said, ‘Have a nice day.’ ”
LaBarbara left with two bags of groceries, leaving another 17 for delivery to the shop known for its famous rainbow bagels.
Storeowner Rusillo was leaving the victim’s basement apartment a short time later Tuesday morning to pick up LaBarbara’s two sons at high school.
Rusillo said he didn’t know or really care what kind of vehicle was involved in the fatal crash: “It’s not going to bring her back.”
LaBarbara mostly worked on the shipping side of the business, dispatching the bagels to fans around the country and the world.
The popular store’s Christmas inventory includes special red-and-white candy cane bagels and a green, white and red holiday bagel.
Neighbor Francesca Sallustio, 57, said many of the local drivers show no regard for pedestrians.
“It’s bad, it’s really bad,” she said.
“Sometimes they don’t stop. They go behind me. They want to go so fast.”
Sallustio expressed her concern for the victim’s suddenly motherless teens.
“Now they’re going to lose everything,” she said. “They can’t live by themselves. There’s nothing to say. It’s sad.”
The fugitive driver remained on the lam hours after plowing into the victim. LaBarbara’s undelivered grocery bags sat near the checkout counter, a reminder of her shocking death on the street nearby.
Hours later, a hit-and-run driver struck a 6-year-old girl on a Bronx street, leaving her critically hurt, police said.
The girl was crossing E. 172nd St. near Harrod Ave. in Soundview just after 4:50 p.m., when a vehicle going west struck her, police said.
Medics rushed her to Jacobi Medical Center with head and leg injuries, cops said. She was in critical but stable condition.