Laughing as vic, 70, was dying
Witness tells of heartless driver
A 70-year-old woman killed by a car while sitting on a chair outside her Brooklyn home was the victim of a furious driver trying to run over someone else, police said Wednesday.
Brenda Whidbee was mowed down the night of Aug. 24 by a Ford Explorer that jumped the curb near Thomas Boyland and Pacific Sts. in Brownsville.
Driver Layla Adredini, 30, ran into the victim’s building in an effort to escape but good Samaritans held her for police, who charged her with murder and attempted murder, authorities said Wednesday.
A neighbor told News 12 that Adredini showed no remorse after the crash
“[Adredini] was in the building smiling, laughing about it while this lady was down here dying with her grandkids outside, her daughter outside,” Joyce Harden told the station. “[Whidbee] was dying on the ground and her kids were outside watching.”
Police accuse Layla of purposely mounting the sidewalk aiming to hit a 50-year-old man she had a beef with. That victim escaped with a relatively minor injury when Adredini ran over his foot, police said.
A man at Adedini’s home who identified himself as her husband declined to comment on Whidbee’s death Wednesday.
“Nah, I don’t want to talk about it, man,” he said.
Whidbee’s son-in-law said she would often sit outside the building where family members would play cards and talk. She was sitting on a lawn chair when the deranged driver jumped the curb and ended her life.
The son-in-law got a call from a crying family member.
“I went through every red light in Brooklyn to get there,” the son-in-law said. “When I got there I saw chaos . . . . When I saw the damage the car had done I knew Grandmom had a fifty-fifty chance. She was still alive but every bone in her body was broken so her heart gave out.”
EMS rushed Whidbee, with severe trauma all over her body, to Brookdale University Hospital, where she died.
Her death was officially deemed a homicide Tuesday.
Adredini, who lives just a couple of blocks away from the crash scene, has nine prior arrests, police said.
She is being held without bail on the murder charge.
Whidbee’s son-in-law described the victim as a churchgoing woman who had endless love for her grandchildren.
“She should still be here,” he said. “She meant everything to me. She was the best.”
The son-in-law said he had nothing but contempt for the driver.
“(Adredini) didn’t have a seizure. She wasn’t sick. She knew exactly what she was doing,” the son-in-law said. “She did something real messed up, Man, and I know I will never forgive her and I’m quite sure God understands.”