Friends Help Family Of Mom Struck While Walking With Stroller

AMAGANSETT, NY — A friend of the woman who died after being struck by a pickup truck while she was walking with her two young children in a stroller in Amagansett is raising money to help the family she left behind.

A GoFundMe page, "Yuris Murillo Cruz Funeral and Medical Expenses," was created by Angelica Marta of Hampton Bays.

On Jan. 13, Marta wrote, "my friend Yuris Murillo Cruz, 36, and her two children, Michelle, 4, and Gael, 1, were walking home from school in Amagansett," when she was struck. "Yuris died on impact, and gave her life for her children. Right now her two children are at Stony Brook University Hospital," she said.

Both children are constantly being monitored, she wrote.

"Her husband and family are in complete shock. He is with his children at the hospital, and praying for their recovery," she said.

Marta said donations will be used to help her friend's family to relieve the stress of funeral costs and medical expenses.

"If you can find it in your heart to help the family and their two beautiful children it would be greatly appreciated. If you can’t donate, please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers, and please pass along the link," she wrote.

A devastated community has come together to help the young mother's family after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver, police said.

According to East Hampton Town Police, the crash took place on Montauk Highway, east of Old Montauk Highway, on Jan. 13 at 11:42 a.m. Mark A. Corrado, Jr., 28, of West Babylon, was heading east in a 1997 Dodge pickup when he hit Murillo Cruz of Amagansett.

Another GoFundMe page, "Support for the Murillo Cruz Family," was also created by Kim Slicklein of the Amagansett PTA.

"We are a small community, and we need to help support one another — especially during such an agonizing time for the Murillo Cruz family," Slicklein wrote.

Donations are needed to support the Murillo Cruz family and help with medical expenses, childcare, meals, funeral expenses, and for "everything else needed during this critically challenging time," she said. "We are incredibly grateful for all donations — no matter how small, and your help will make a tremendous difference in the lives of Murillo Cruz family."

Corrado did not stop and continued east before abandoning the pickup in a wooded area on Gilberts Path in Amagansett and fleeing, police said. Police canvassing the area found the vehicle, police said.

Corrado surrendered to East Hampton detectives at Suffolk County's First Precinct in West Babylon that afternoon, police said. He was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, a felony, police said.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call East Hampton Town Police at 631-537-7575.

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