Driver flees after fatally hitting nurse in Sunset Park crosswalk
After the Night Shift
A driver in a Cadillac hit Jiayi Zheng in a Sunset Park crosswalk after her overnight nursing shift, then left the scene before medics took her to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she died.
Reported by press, not yet linked to NYC police crash records. This may change when new official records become available or when matching details are reviewed.
Approximate reported location.
What We Know
Jiayi Zheng, a 28-year-old NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn nurse, had just finished an overnight shift when a driver in a Cadillac hit her near 55th Street and Third Avenue in Sunset Park around 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2026, according to police and news reports. Zheng was taken to the hospital where she worked and was pronounced dead. Reports described the driver as continuing south on Third Avenue and leaving the scene; police said no arrest had been made as the search continued. Several outlets identified the Cadillac as a 2014 sedan, while the Daily News described it as an Escalade.
What reporters and police said happened
Police and news reports placed the crash around 7:30 a.m. at 55th Street and Third Avenue in Sunset Park. Zheng, 28, was crossing Third Avenue when a driver in a Cadillac traveling south hit her and left the scene.
Surveillance video reviewed by News 12 and the Daily News showed the driver moving through the intersection at speed and continuing south on Third Avenue after the impact. The Post reported that the driver went through a red light; ABC7 reported that police said Zheng had the right of way.
Jiayi Zheng had just left the hospital where she worked
Zheng was a 28-year-old nurse at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. Hospital sources told News 12 she had finished an overnight shift and was heading home when the driver hit her. Gothamist reported that she lived six blocks away.
NYU Langone Health said, “Our nurses play an essential role in caring for others with compassion and dedication, and this loss is being felt across our entire community.” UFT Vice President Anne Goldman said the nurses union grieved Zheng’s loss and honored “the kindness and compassion she brought to our work and our community.”
Reports differed on the Cadillac description
Several reports, citing police, described the driver as operating a 2014 Cadillac sedan; the Post added that police sources said it had Pennsylvania plates. The initial Daily News report described the vehicle as a Cadillac Escalade, and a later Daily News story also used Escalade while discussing video it reviewed.
Police searched for the driver
Police said the driver did not remain at the scene, no arrest had been made, and the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad was investigating. CBS New York reported that police asked anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
Third Avenue’s Sunset Park corridor had drawn warnings before the crash
The crash happened on Third Avenue beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Transportation Alternatives said six pedestrians and five cyclists had been killed along the two-mile Third Avenue corridor under the BQE since 2014, and advocates tied Zheng’s death to renewed calls for a redesign.
Gothamist reported that the Department of Transportation presented a redesign plan in 2023 that was later put on hold. After Zheng’s death, city officials and lawmakers said the corridor needed safety changes, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city would move forward with a Third Avenue redesign.