The hit-and-run driver who cops say mowed down and dragged a pregnant lady heading house from a Beyoncé live performance was busted on homicide expenses, cops stated Wednesday — because the sufferer’s grieving husband slammed the motorist as a “coward” and a “monster.”
Chaquasia Pigford, 28, faces a laundry checklist of expenses — together with second-degree homicide, manslaughter, reckless driving, driving with no license, and leaving the scene of a lethal accident — for allegedly ramming into 32-year-old Tiffany Cifuni the night time of Could 24 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, cops stated.
Pigford was ordered held with out bail by Choose Dena E. Douglas throughout her Wednesday afternoon arraignment, attended by about 10 relations of the slain mom-to-be, together with her husband, James Cifuni.
“She’s a coward,” the tearful husband could possibly be heard saying through the proceedings. “She’s a monster.”
Tiffany’s father-in-law, Nick Cifuni, a non-public follow lawyer who beforehand labored for the NYPD, instructed reporters the household is “joyful as we speak occurred.”
“We’ve been reeling from the day [Tiffany] was killed,” he stated. “We won’t relaxation till it’s over and we get justice for Tiffany.
“I don’t wish to say something to disrupt the proof of the case.”
Cifuni — who prosecutors say was 12 weeks pregnant — was on her manner house from the Beyoncé live performance at MetLife Stadium the night time she was killed, her heartbroken in-laws instructed WABC on the time of the tragedy.
Whereas en route, Cifuni, who was driving a 2021 Toyota 4Runner, was rear-ended by Pigford, who was driving a stolen 2016 Chevy Trax on Lewis Avenue, cops and prosecutors stated.
Cifuni adopted Pigford for about two blocks earlier than the Chevy driver lastly stopped at Van Buren Road and Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Assistant District Lawyer Tara Kelly stated.
Cifuni received out of her automobile and walked as much as Pigford’s journey — however Pigford “refused to roll down her window or communicate with Tiffany,” Kelly stated.
“At that time, the defendant first calmly pressed the gasoline, inflicting the car to briefly contact Mrs. Cifuni,” Kelly recounted. “Tiffany jumped backwards and positioned her arms on the hood.”
“When a passerby was strolling down the road, Tiffany yelled, asking him to take a photograph of the defendant’s license plate,” she added. “At that second, the defendant floored the gasoline, immediately placing Tiffany, inflicting her physique to turn into lodged beneath the car.”
Pigford then made an unlawful proper flip into oncoming visitors on Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Kelly stated.
It wasn’t till Pigford drove over a manhole that Cifuni’s physique was dislodged, in keeping with the prosecutor.
However the driver’s rampage wasn’t completed — police stated the Chevy struck a parked Volkswagen SUV whereas making an attempt to get away, after which slammed right into a 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 38-year-old lady behind the wheel.
“The one purpose the defendant stopped driving was as a result of each of her entrance tires blew out,” Kelly stated. “She then deserted the stolen automobile and fled the scene on foot.”
The crazed driver then received out and fled on foot, abandoning the Chevy, which had short-term plates.
Pigford fled to South Carolina, the place she has relations, and was nabbed when she returned to Brooklyn late Tuesday, in keeping with Kelly.
Cifuni’s in-laws beforehand instructed WABC that simply two weeks earlier than her tragic dying, Cifuni had shared the information that she and James, who lived on Lengthy Island, had been anticipating their first youngster.
Earlier than the arraignment, Pigford – who lives lower than a mile from the scene – denied any accountability for the crash as detectives led her out of the 81st Precinct stationhouse.
“It wasn’t me, it was the one who owns the automobile,” she instructed reporters.
Her legal professional, John Signoriello, echoed his shopper’s denial in court docket and tried to press for $10,000 bail as a result of his shopper has sturdy group ties, lives together with her mom and works as a house well being aide.
Pigford, who wore glasses, a navy blue hoodie and black leggings, saved her hood pulled over her head through the proceedings.
Her subsequent court docket look is scheduled for July 30.
Extra reporting by Larry Celona
