QUEENS, NEW YORK: A 19-year-old college student spent her last moments sending a light-hearted selfie to her family before she was struck down by a drowsy driver while waiting for a bus at a Queens bus stop on Saturday, June 24. Ava Conklin was waiting at the stop to go picnicking with her younger sister in Central Park when she was run over by a white SUV at the intersection of Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach 108 Street.
Conklin was immediately rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. Officials reported that the 29-year-old driver of that 2021 Hyundai Venue was going west on Rockaway Beach Blvd, when he fell asleep at the wheel. He was traveling in the right lane when it came to an end and changed onto a sidewalk. The driver rammed three metal benches, where Conklin was sitting and waiting for her younger sister’s bus to arrive. The driver was detained by police, who subsequently questioned him before releasing him without any charges, according to an NYPD spokesman. However, he could still face charges as the investigation continues.
'It doesn’t logically make sense'
Conklin was first identified by her 14-year-old sister Peyton, who stepped off an MTA bus to meet her big sister but found herself surrounded by the crash’s aftermath. She recognized her sister by her purse and the back of her head on the ground. “All I could do was scream,” Peyton told the Daily News, adding, “A bunch of people tried to calm me down but I told them, ‘Don’t try to calm me down! That’s my sister!’” She was ultimately removed from the scene by two firemen. Conklin was a psychology student who had just finished her first year at a college in Vermont. She was living in Hell's Kitchen with her mother.
On Saturday, Conklin sent a light-hearted selfie to her family around 2.14 pm, just moments before she was struck and killed by the SUV. “How do four minutes change your whole life?” her heartbroken stepmother, Jennifer Duffy, said on Sunday. The devastated mother said Peyton called her right away but “the phone call dropped and I knew something had happened.” She got an immediate callback and a man’s voice said, “Your daughter was just hit by a car,” and then hung up. Duffy said she could not believe the driver slept away as he would have had to swerve past cars to hit Conklin. “It doesn’t logically make sense,” she said.
'I idolized her'
The devastated family described Conklin as a bright soul, who enjoyed listening to Mac Miller, MF Doom and Tyler the Creator. Conklin, the second oldest of five biological children and stepchildren, made a point of doing enjoyable "girl stuff" with her younger siblings. “She was always the emotional mediator of the family," Peyton said, adding, “I idolized her.
"When my oldest went away to the military, [Ava] really stepped in as a big sister,” Duffy said. Conklin's death came amid a sudden rise in road fatalities this year despite ongoing efforts to prevent such deaths.
