A pregnant mom of three was crushed to death by a drunken driver on her wedding anniversary yesterday when an out-of-control supermarket van hopped a curb near the Empire State Building and careened into a crowd, police said.
“It happened so fast,” said witness Alex Binyaminov, who was just feet away when the Gristedes van plowed into Ysemny Ramos, 29, on East 37th Street near Fifth Avenue at 5 p.m.
Witnesses said a passenger was hanging out of the van hooting at Ramos — an administrative assistant at a nearby architecture firm — and her friend Tassia Kastiambanis, 37, just before the vehicle inexplicably accelerated, mowing them down and slamming into a Citibank branch.
As the chaos unfolded, Binyaminov raced to help.
“I saw a lady [Kastiambanis] pinned down underneath the car,” he said.
But the wounded woman “asked me to help her friend who was pregnant.”
By the time he made it to the 3-months-pregnant Ramos, who was wedged between the van and the wall, it was too late. “She was already gone,” he said.
A source said that the driver, Keston Brown, 27, of The Bronx jumped out and pulled the woman — a Sunset Park native who holds a graphic design degree from SUNY New Paltz — free.
Kastiambanis and another passerby were rushed to Bellevue Hospital where they were listed in stable condition. No one in the bank was injured.
Brown, a weekend maintenance man for Gristedes who had the truck because he was on call, was hauled off in cuffs and charged with drunken driving and manslaughter, sources said.
His passenger, who was hollering at the victims, “came out of the van like nothing had happened,” witness Marlon Contreras said.
Ramos’ husband, Renaldo, was devastated.
“She was full of love, she refused to see the glass half-empty and she always filled up my cup when I saw it half-empty,” he said as he broke down in tears at the couple’s Brooklyn home.
“Today was our anniversary.”
On her MySpace page, Ramos wrote “happy anniversary mi amor.”
The victim’s sister, Michelle Rodriguez, 19, lashed out at Brown.
“You just took somebody away from me,” she said last night. “You just took a mother away from her kids.”
Ramos’ co-workers at Israel Berger & Associates also were left grieving.
“She was loving woman,” said James Tittle, a designer at the firm. “She was so kind and sweet. It’s a shame that she had to leave the earth this way. She was a really good-hearted person.”
Gristedes spokesman Rob Ryan said: “What happened today was a tragedy . . . Our thoughts and payers are with all those involved in the incident, their families and their friends.”
In a separate incident an hour earlier, a taxi jumped the curb on Amsterdam Avenue near West 106th Street smashing into Mama’s Pizzeria and injuring seven people, including one seriously.
Witnesses said the cab was competing with another car to make a turn when it careened, skidded and hit a pole, then veered into the pizzeria, leaving a trail of broken glass and wood.
Authorities said no summonses were immediately issued.
Additional reporting by Todd Venezia, Philip Messing, Rich Calder and Mark Joyella