Grand Jury Considers Charges Against Driver In Park Slope Crash

PARK SLOPE, NY — A grand jury is considering whether charges should be brought against the driver who plowed into five people crossing a Park Slope intersection last month, killing two children, the New York Post reported.

Sources told the paper that a grand jury convened recently to evaluate evidence against Dorothy Bruns, 44, and decide if she should be charged for the crash.

Bruns, of Staten Island, was behind the wheel of her 2016 Volvo S60 last month when she lost control and slammed into five pedestrians crossing Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, police said.

The crash killed Joshua Lew, 1, and Abigail Blumenstein, 4, who were crossing with their mothers, authorities said. Broadway actress Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, who performs under the stage name Ruthie Ann Miles, and her friend Lauren Lew were also injured along with a 46-year-old man.

Bruns reportedly had a history of seizures and a heart condition and emergency officials responded to her home for a cardiac condition days before the crash, the New York Daily News reported.

Her Volvo had 12 violations issued to it in the past two years from speed cameras, including four for running red-lights and four for speeding in school zones, but officials said it's impossible to tell who was behind the wheel at the time.

Bruns was also involved in a hit-and-run crash months earlier when she struck a 28-year-old woman crossing the street in Long Island City, the News reported.

The fatal crash led to protests around the neighborhood calling for safer streets and Mayor Bill de Blasio to announce a push for new laws to crack down on reckless drivers getting behind the wheel.

"These are the kinds of measures that could've averted the tragedy that happened in our community," de Blasio said at a press conference last month.

"We can't accept a reality where it is normal for someone to kill a pedestrian with their vehicle. We just can't let that be anything we regard as normal in our community."

Image: Leah Finnegan/Twitter, used with permission.