Mill Hill family mourns mother and daughters killed in Shabbat crash
The victims, who had close family in London, were struck while walking home from synagogue in New York
A north London Jewish family is in mourning after a mother and her two daughters – the daughter and granddaughters of members of Mill Hill Synagogue – were killed in a car crash while walking home from synagogue on Shabbat in Brooklyn.
Natasha (Sara) Saada, 34, and her daughters Diana, eight, and Debra, five, were struck and killed on Saturday afternoon in the Midwood neighbourhood of South Brooklyn. A third child, a boy, was critically injured and remains in hospital.
According to New York police, a silver Toyota Camry was rear-ended by an Audi sedan while turning on Ocean Parkway, a major road in the area. The collision pushed the Audi forward into a group of pedestrians. All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the crash “a tragic accident of Shakespearean proportion”, describing it as especially painful for a “very close-knit” and “very religious” community. He and other officials visited the grieving family and called for urgent action to address road safety.
Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, rabbi of Shahin and Jack Assil – Natasha’s parents – at Mill Hill Synagogue, travelled to Israel to join the family for the funeral. He said: “The whole community is grief-stricken. Natasha grew up in Mill Hill and is fondly remembered by many. They are a beautiful family and we are all mourning along with them.”
The driver of the Audi, 32-year-old Miriam Yarimi, was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital in stable condition. She has been charged with multiple offences, including three counts of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless driving.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Yarimi was driving with a suspended licence and had a record of dozens of traffic violations. “Speed certainly may have been a factor,” she said. “This was a horrific tragedy caused by someone who shouldn’t have been on the road.”
Yarimi, who is believed to be part of the Jewish community in New York, runs a wig business and has posted on social media about Shabbat and Jewish festivals. She previously shared photos of a blue Audi with the number plate “WIGM8KER”.
The deaths have promoted grief and shock across Jewish communities in New York, Israel and the UK. Mill Hill Synagogue informed its members of the tragedy in an email over the weekend.
Police investigations into the crash are ongoing.
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