Driver Charged After Baby Killed in Staten Island Crosswalk
Police said Shannon Cocozza, driving a white Jeep Cherokee, hit 1-year-old Lian Mashini and her mother while turning left at Scarboro Avenue and Abbott Street on May 26, 2022; city records list failure to yield.
What We Know
On May 26, 2022, police said Shannon Cocozza was turning left from Scarboro Avenue onto Abbott Street in Rosebank when she hit 1-year-old Lian Mashini and her mother as they crossed the street. City records place the crash at about 7:05 a.m. and list failure to yield right-of-way. Police said Cocozza remained at the scene, and first responders took Lian and her mother to Staten Island University Hospital North, where Lian died. Police charged Cocozza with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
A left turn at a Rosebank intersection
The crash happened shortly after 7 a.m. on May 26, 2022. Police told Gothamist that Shannon Cocozza, 40, was driving a white Jeep Cherokee and turning left onto Abbott Street from Scarboro Avenue when she hit Lian Mashini and her mother as they crossed the street.
City crash records identify the vehicle as a 2019 Jeep SUV traveling east before the turn and list failure to yield right-of-way as the contributing factor.
Lian Mashini died after the crash
Police said first responders took 1-year-old Lian Mashini and her mother to Staten Island University Hospital North. Lian died there from her injuries, and police described her mother as stable.
Scarboro Avenue had one recorded death in this period
The crash occurred at Scarboro Avenue and Abbott Street on Staten Island. CrashCountNYC’s location review for Scarboro Avenue counts 10 crashes, 3 injuries and 1 death from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.
Police made failure-to-yield charges
Police arrested Cocozza and charged her with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care, Gothamist reported. The official crash record also lists failure to yield right-of-way.
The driver stayed at the scene
Gothamist reported that Cocozza remained at the scene and that surveillance footage showed her getting out of her vehicle and approaching the mother and child after the crash.