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Petition Seeks “Justice” for Hit-and-Run Victim

Relatives and friends of Roxana Sorina Buta, and strangers who may only know her through headlines, are petitioning for the justice they believe she and her family have not yet gotten.

Buta was 21 on the night she died, allegedly struck near Union Square by a hit-and-run New York City Department of Transportation garbadge truck driver. Police identified but did not arrest the driver, whose name has not been released.

But those seeking justice for Buta are gathering signatures on a petition they have placed online and on a yellow legal pad that her friends leave sporadically at Broadway and 14^th Street, picking it up on random days.

“Anyone who hits a pedestrian head-on should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Pablo Ortiz, 39, after he signed the petition on a recent day. “ … And I hope they do get enough support to prosecute him.”

“This is difficult because I’m a driver,” said Jahaira Tineo, 30, who, along with her daughter, had also just signed the petition, which aims for 10,000 signatures. “But you have to be held responsible.  Part of driving is looking around at all sides and if you make a mistake you have to admit to it. So, I really think he should be prosecuted.”

Buta was walking home from her job waiting tables at Bar 6 around 1:30 a.m. when she was struck. Witnesses chased the truck but were unable to get it to pull over, according to news reports. Buta was transported from the scene to Beth Israel Hospital’s First Avenue facility, where she died.

“Hit-and-runs are not treated as serious crimes at all. And the driver gets away, essentially, with murder by claiming that they did not see the person crossing the street,” Lily DePaula, one of Buta’s friend, wrote on the online petition.

“It’s sad, it’s unfortunate. She was so young,” petition signer Tineo said of Buta, a Hunter College student and aspiring actor. But was set to star in an off Broadway play, “Him,” at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village before she died.

The petition drive aims to get lawmakers to enact stricter arrest requirements, prosecution and sentencing of hit-and-run drivers. When this story posted, it had drawn more than 6,000 names.

The Department of Transportation driver who, so far, faces no charges and is claiming that he did not see Roxi in the crosswalk, or the many witnesses who screamed and chased after him as he kept driving,” said Stephanie Iscovitz, one of Buta’s friends. “If this is the case, then driving one of these trucks is no different than shooting a loaded gun with your eyes closed. This has to change.”

On Twitter @Cliff_Michel.