Eighty-Eight year old Alba Mazza, an Italian-American musician, died after being pinned beneath her SUV in the parking garage of her apartment at 115 96th St. in Bay Ridge this weekend.
A woman walking her dog down 96th Street between Shore Road and Marine Avenue on Saturday night at approximately 5:45 p.m. stumbled upon what would soon become a nightmare scene with over a dozen fire trucks, police vehicles and ambulances.
Natalie Hale was waiting to be picked up by a friend. “I was just walking my dog when I saw the car with its driver door wide open and the engine was running,” Hale told this paper. “It was parked and then slowly started moving into the garage. It just kept driving and I got scared that it was going to explode or something.”
Hale called 911 and described what she had seen. “I told them that there was nobody in the car and I heard loud classical music playing from inside the car.”
At first Hale was scared to move closer, but ultimately watched the vehicle begin to go down the driveway.
“People were just walking by and nobody did anything,” Hale continued. And then it goes through the garage door and keeps going. I just didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t see the woman at first and I thought should I go and try to stop the car, maybe put the brake on the car but I didn’t know what to do.”
After the car had stopped Hale spotted a foot sticking out from underneath vehicle and was shaken by the sight.
By 6 p.m. 96th Street was completely closed off between Shore Road and Marine Avenue. The police and firefighters were able to extricate Alba from the vehicle. She was already in cardiac arrest and taken to NYU Langone-Brooklyn (Lutheran) Hospital where was later pronounced dead.
Councilmember Justin Brannan reacted to questions about the incident on Facebook, by posting that an “Elderly woman got out of her car to open the garage door. Car wasn’t in park and it ran her over. She died at the hospital. Freak accident. So heartbreaking.”
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that Mazza had driven her 2018 Hyundai Kona SUV up to the parking garage door, left the vehicle to unlock the garage door and was then run over by the vehicle.
While it appears to be accidental, the spokesperson added that the incident is still under investigation.
The Bensonhurst-born Mazza was a renowned musician whose passion was performing and preserving Italian music.
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