NEW SPRINGVILLE — A Staten Island mother of two was on her way to a doctor appointment when she was struck and killed by a car that jumped the curb Monday afternoon, her father said.
Christal Aliotta, 31, who worked as a telemarketer at the Staten Island Teleport, was walking on Hylan Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue Monday when an out-of-control 2005 Honda Accord jumped the curb and crashed into her and another unidentified woman, police and Aliotta's father said.
"It's a tragic thing," her father, Ralph, who did not want to give his last name, said from the New Springville home where she lived.
"I'm sure [the driver] didn't get up and intend on doing what he did, and I'm sure my daughter didn't expect that to happen."
The driver, Michael Fox, 23, lost control of his car driving southbound on Hylan Boulevard on Monday when he jumped the curb and crashed into Aliotta and another 20-year-old woman, police said.
Aliotta and the woman were taken to Staten Island University Hospital North, where Aliotta was pronounced dead. The other pedestrian was listed in stable condition.
Fox was arrested on the scene and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle at his arraignment on Tuesday, the district attorney's office said.
After the accident, police found two glassines with heroin residue inside Fox's pants pocket and a hypodermic syringe, a spoon with residue and a tourniquet band inside his car, court documents said.
Fox's license was suspended after he failed to answer to a traffic summons, and he told police he knew he didn't have a valid license after the crash, court documents said.
His bail was set at $10,000 and the case was adjourned to Friday, the district attorney's office said. He has been arrested 10 times before, police said, and previously pleaded guilty to drug possession in May and June of 2013, court records show.
Ralph said Tuesday that he had been given few details about the accident.
"I don't have any official truth," he said. "There's more details in the newspaper than I know."
He said he was meeting with a lawyer who contacted him after the reports of Aliotta's death, and was looking into legal options to help pay for his daughter's funeral.
He said that Aliotta had two children, 6 and 4 years old.
"It's a very strange type of thing," he said. "I'm just trying to deal with this."
