An out-of-control driver slammed his SUV into a pregnant woman outside a lower East Side church yesterday before flipping onto a crowd of mourners at a funeral.
Ming Jiang left the 34-year-old pregnant woman in critical condition when his Toyota hurtled into her and four others outside St. Teresa's Church on Rutgers St.
"He's stupid," said Yolanda Guime, 75, who was briefly trapped under the SUV. "I can't believe how he was driving. He came out of nowhere."
Just a few feet away, the Rev. Donald Baker watched in horror as the vehicle turned into a missile and narrowly missed a hearse containing the coffin of Carmen Sanchez Rivera, 59. "We could've been killed," Baker said. "It stopped - thank God for that."
Jiang, a restaurant worker, and a passenger ran off after an angry crowd tried to beat them, but police caught up with him at his apartment around the corner. He was released without being charged.
Bi-Xian Zheng of Kitty Hawk, N.C., who is five months pregnant, broke her pelvis and ribs and suffered internal brain injuries. But the mother of two was expected to survive and doctors believe her baby should be born healthy.
"The baby bounced back really quickly," said Dr. Maurizio Miglietta of Bellevue Hospital. "We're happy, of course, " said her sister.
The mourning mayhem unfolded about 9:30 as Jiang drove west on Rutgers St. near Henry St. Mourners were just about to carry Rivera's coffin out of the hearse, which was parked in front of the church. Baker was talking with relatives of the deceased, who was a longtime parishioner.
For some reason, Jiang's SUV struck a curb, blew a tire, and spun onto the sidewalk, scattering terrified churchgoers and pedestrians in the bustling neighborhood.
"It sounded like a bomb and people started screaming," said Sister Frances Brogan. "The father yelled, 'Call 911! Call 911!'"
Fruit vendor Hokam Wah watched transfixed from the far corner as the vehicle hit the pregnant woman and the other mourners.
"She didn't have a chance to scream," Wah said through a translator. "He ran over the pregnant lady until he hit the church and tipped."
Guime, who prays daily at the church and attends all the funerals, miraculously escaped with minor injuries.
"Coming that fast, where the heck were you coming from?" asked Rosa Larraz, 34, her daughter.
The funeral Mass was canceled but Rivera's shaken family went ahead with her burial at a cemetery in Queens.
"I feel so upset," said Orlando Serrano Rivera of Brooklyn, the woman's nephew. "I was here for one tragedy and I had to witness another."
Jiang works at a restaurant on the upper East Side and lives in a first-floor apartment on Henry St., neighbors said.
Above his doorway is a sign in Chinese reading: "Come and go in safety."
