A Father and his daughter Esther Sanzo
State police are seeking the driver of a vehicle that struck a New York Police Department officer Sunday morning after she was thrown from her car during an accident on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Nanuet.
Investigator Brendan Tumulty said Tuesday that police want to identify the driver and the vehicle that hit Esther Sanzo, 38, who was driving a black 2008 Ford Edge south about 12:45 a.m. when she struck a guardrail in the center median near Exit 8E, Route 59, and was thrown onto the parkway.
“We are looking for a vehicle that struck the body,” Tumulty said.
“They may have hit something. They may have not realized they hit a body,” he said.
Tumulty stressed that police are not treating their probe as a criminal investigation.
“It’s just to complete a thorough investigation,” he said.
Due to the extent of Sanzo’s injuries, investigators are not able to determine whether she died as a result of the initial accident or because she was struck by the vehicle.
Investigators said they have no idea what kind of vehicle was involved because they recovered no tangible evidence — like pieces of a vehicle — from the scene.
Investigators said Monday that after landing in the road, Sanzo was then struck by a car in the southbound passing lane.
Sanzo’s SUV continued traveling until it struck the Route 59 overpass.
An autopsy conducted Monday by the Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Sanzo died of head and body injuries resulting from being thrown from her SUV and being run over by a passing vehicle.
The report said Sanzo died of “multiple blunt force impact injuries to her head, neck and torso.”
The office is awaiting toxicology results to determine if she had any alcohol or drugs in her system.
Tumulty asks that anyone who may have been traveling on the Palisades Interstate Parkway early Sunday call his office at 845-364-0200.
Calling hours will continue from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Moritz Funeral Home, 98 Route 303 S., Tappan.
A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, 120 Kings Highway, Tappan.
Burial will follow in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne.
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