BOROUGH PARK — A 10-year-old girl and her pregnant mom were going to the 99 cents store for a pair of gloves when a valet, driving a someone's van without permission, hit them, killing the girl and hospitalizing the mom, who gave birth to another girl, a family rabbi said.
Blima Friedman, and her 33-year-old mom, Sara, were crossing 60th Street at 18th Avenue about 9 p.m. when Bilal Ghumman, 22, slammed into them with a gray Honda Odyssey he took from an event hall near 54th Street and 14th Avenue, police and a family rabbi said.
The girl was lying motionless on the street afterwards, witnesses said.
"She was face down and she was bleeding from her nose and cheek. They put her on a stretcher. She wasn't talking," said Samina Kousar, 34, a neighbor who saw the aftermath.
Blima, who lived about two blocks away with her six other siblings, was pronounced dead at Maimonides hospital, police said.
Blima's mother suffered severe internal injuries including a punctured liver and fractured ribs, according to Rabbi Jack Meyer, who has visited the family since the incident.
Friedman, who was in a medically induced coma at Lutheran hospital and does not yet know her daughter died, gave birth to a girl who is in stable condition, Meyer said.
The death of one daughter and birth of another created a kind of emotional whiplash for the father, Meyer said.
"We had to tell him there was nothing more the doctors could do [for Blima], then 30 seconds later, congratulate him that he has a new baby girl. It's like a seesaw. There's no words you can say," the rabbi said.
"I don't think reality has set in with him," Meyer added.
Ghumman was arrested on the scene on charges of driving the minivan without the owner's permission, according to the NYPD. He was awaiting arraignment Wednesday morning.
Ghumman is a valet, but it was not immediately clear if he was on the job and working at the event hall he took the van from.
In July he was arrested for trespassing in Brooklyn, court records show.
In September he was arrested in Downtown Brooklyn for taking up two seats and riding the subway without paying, records and a police spokeswoman said.
And in October he was arrested for criminal possession of marijuana, police said.
Ghumman's license, which lets him drive for-hire vehicles carrying up to 14 passengers, has never been suspended or revoked, a DMV spokesman said.
A funeral for Blima was planned for Wednesday afternoon in accordance with Jewish tradition, Meyer said.
