A hit-and-run driver who mowed down a woman on a busy lower Manhattan sidewalk over a year ago was sentenced Wednesday to two to six years in prison after her victim read an emotional statement in Manhattan court.
Defendant Tiffany Murdaugh, 35, listened intently as her victim, Heather Hensl, 38, described the April 13, 2015 collision and her serious injuries.
“I suddenly felt as if I walked into the largest metal lamppost possible – only the lamppost was not stationary, but instead a moving object,” said Hensl, her voice quavering. “I felt my shoes fly off my feet – I knew I was in trouble.”
She continued, “I next felt myself being thrown up into the air then felt another sharp, searing, painful impact to my head.”
Hensl, a physician’s assistant, said that despite surgery on her face, a permanent indent remains on her forehead. She also had to endure months of physical therapy for a shattered knee.
But Murdaugh’s lips trembled when Hensl recounted the impact of the accident on her two daughters.
“You can’t carry a 3-year-old while on crutches, you can’t run to help your child who is hurt when your leg is fractured, you can’t shower by yourself, you can’t go food shopping for your family or pick up your ballerinas from dance class,” she said.
Murdaugh sobbed as she read from a brief handwritten statement. “I am truly sorry for the accident that occurred,” she said in Manhattan Supreme Court. “I wish it were me and not them.”
Murdaugh previously copped to assault and reckless endangerment for the wreck on Beekman Street as part of a plea agreement.
Driving a Dodge Challenger, Murdaugh sped onto a crowded sidewalk at 25 miles per hour to pass the gridlocked cars and slammed into Hensl, authorities said.
Once the traffic cleared, Murdaugh merged back into the street and fled the scene, authorities said.
A half hour later, Murdaugh rammed into another car while trying to parallel park in Brooklyn.
Murdaugh took off on foot. After cops tracked her to her home in Philadelphia, she admitted she was high at the time of the accident.
“This defendant careened onto a sidewalk near an elementary school at 8 o’clock in the morning on a school day,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in a statement. “It is a miracle that no one else was hurt by her recklessness.”