Brooklyn driver who killed a mother and two children is sentenced to 3 to 9 years in prison

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NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn wigmaker and social media influencer who raced through a red light and plowed into a mother and two children, killing them, was sentenced Wednesday to 3 years to 9 years in state prison.

Miriam Yarimi, 33, pleaded guilty last month in state court in Brooklyn to three counts of reckless manslaughter in connection with the March crash in the borough's Midwood neighborhood.

Yarimi wept as she was being sentenced and told Judge Danny Chun: “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”

Prosecutors had recommended the maximum of 5 years to 15 years in prison.

Natasha Saada, 34, was holding hands with her three children, Diana, 8, Deborah, 5, and Philip, 4, while crossing Ocean Parkway after Shabbat services, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

Natasha, Diana and Deborah were killed. Philip was critically injured.

Yarimi sped through the intersection at close to 70 mph (113 kph) and slammed her Audi luxury sedan into a turning Toyota before hitting Saada and her children, Gonzalez said. The car, bearing the license plate WIGM8KER, flipped and came to a stop about 130 feet (40 meters) away.

The posted speed limit is 25 mph (40 kph). There was no indication that Yarimi, who was driving on a suspended license, had attempted to brake, Gonzalez said.

“This defendant is a reckless driver who cared about only herself when she raced in the streets of Brooklyn and wiped away nearly an entire family," Gonzalez said in a statement.

“There’s a lot of sorrow and pain, remorse, regret I feel in my heart for causing such an unspeakable tragedy,” Yarimi told the judge Wednesday, reading from prepared remarks. “I hope and pray that my guilty plea, as well as my sentencing here today, will provide some degree of closure to the victims and their family members for all of the pain and suffering that my actions.”

Yarimi had to be extracted from her vehicle, police said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the crash a “tragic accident of a Shakespearean proportion.”

“This is extremely concerning and painful, not only to the City of New York in general, but specifically to a very close knit community,” Adams said at the time. “A mother gone for a simple stroll on a sunny day was struck and killed. As we pray for their families and this entire community, the city mourns this loss.”