A 28-year-old Brooklyn woman was arrested Wednesday in connection with the hit-and-run dragging death of a 32-year-old pregnant Queens woman after a late-night fender bender last month.
Police arrested Chaquasia Pigford of Kosciuszko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant in connection with the death of Tiffany Cifuni just after midnight on May 24.
Cifuni apparently got out of her 2021 Toyota 4Runner to check for damage after a minor collision with a 2016 Chevy Trax at Van Buren Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard, also in Bedford-Stuyvesant. When Cifuni exited her vehicle to check the damage, law enforcement sources said, the alleged driver of the Chevy Trax hit the gas and struck Cifuni from behind.
The victim was dragged under the suspect’s car for a distance before it sped away against westbound traffic on Lafayette Avenue, a one-way street, police said.
Police said the rampage wasn’t over as the Chevy struck a parked Volkswagen SUV while trying to get away, and then crashed into a 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 38-year-old woman behind the wheel, causing her injury.
Cifuni was rushed by EMS to Kings County Hospital, where she was declared dead from her injuries.
The Chevy Trax was found nearby, the driver having fled the scene on foot. Following an investigation, Pigford was apprehended and taken into custody.
Detectives led Pigford out of the 81st Precinct‘s Bed-Stuy stationhouse Wednesday. She told gathered media, “It wasn’t me. It was the person who owns the vehicle.”
Pigford faces a litany of charges including second-degree murder; manslaughter; murder with depraved indifference; leaving the scene of an incident without reporting resulting in death; attempting to leave the scene of an incident without reporting; causing serious injury while leaving the scene of an accident without reporting; failing to show license; unauthorized use of a vehicle; two counts of reckless driving; unlicensed operator, three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage; and two counts of committing a one-way violation.
