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A street fight between two women inside a New York City bodega involving wild punching and wig-pulling, led to the hit-and-run death of a disabled man when he was mowed down by one of the brawlers who drove into the sidewalk to take out her foe.
The fracas, which was caught on surveillance camera – both inside and outside the Queens bodega where it started – shows a war of words that escalates in seconds into a punch up and then the cruel death of Milton Storch, 59, an innocent bystander.
Storch was sitting on his walker outside the Rohan Deli at 601 Beach 20 Street in Far Rockaway enjoying the morning sun just after 7 a.m. on Saturday when he was senselessly run over during the street spat.
An argument inside a Queens, NY bodega spills out onto the sidewalk, Milton Storch, 59, seated to the left, was later killed by the woman driving the black Honda
It’s unclear what the women were fighting over. Police say they know each other, but don’t get along
The 26-year-old woman in the red wig, center, followed the other woman out to her car where she punched her repeatedly
After her red wig was snatched from her head, the woman continued to pummel her rival through the driver-side window
The 27-year-old driver, looking to exact revenge after receiving a drubbing, drives onto the sidewalk as her rival retreats into the bodega
Milton Storch, of Far Rockaway, NY, seated in his walker, turns just as the car strikes him. He was killed by the impact
The video shows that the argument began by the potato chip display rack at the front of the bodega with a 26-year-old woman, wearing sport shorts, a black tank top and a bright red wig, pointing and yelling at a smaller woman in a yellow florescent onesie, who leans forward as she gives it right back.
The video footage has no sound and it’s unclear what the women were arguing over.
The two know each other ‘and they don’t get along,’ police told the New York Post.
Milton Storch, 59, who needs a walker to get around because of a buildup of fat deposits in his legs, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday
The 27-year-old woman in the onsie goes to leave, but her rival wasn’t having it. She pulls on the woman’s bag and follows her out of the store.
The video picks up again outside the cornershop, showing Storch on sitting on his walk as the two women throw windmill punches at each other.
The shorter woman pulls the wig off her opponent who follows her to a black Honda parked just outside the deli and continues to throw haymakers as her rival retreats into her car.
The aggressor then circles around to the driver side of the car and start throwing punches through the driver side window.
Several men on the side walk make futile attempts to separate the women until the driver of the black sedan, who police believe is the 27-year-old woman in the onsie, starts the car, backs up slightly and then mounts the curb where her tormenter is standing.
Storch appears to be looking the other direction as pedestrians on the sidewalk scatter and the woman drives down the sidewalk.
He turns his head just in time to see the car clipping him and squeezing him between the vehicle and the front of the bodega.
After fatally striking Storch, the driver backs away slowly, pauses at a stop sign and drives off
Milton Storch, lies fatally injured beside the black Honda that struck him. The passenger and the driver of the car appear to be looking in the opposite direction
The woman then backs up, pulls back into the road, pauses at a stop sign and slowly drives away. She is currently being sought by police.
Storch was taken to St. John’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
‘There’s not much he could’ve done — couldn’t move fast,’ Tatiyana Temple, a neighbor told the Daily News. ‘I watched the video so many times today, and I’m just like, this is crazy.’
Another man who was also struck was taken to the same hospital, but he’s expected to recover.
Storch, who lived nearby, often hung out in the area and suffered from limited mobility due to a build-up of fat in his legs, his roommate, Jose Rodriguez, told the Daily News. He had to use the walker to get around.
‘I thought he was with his girlfriend or something, so I didn’t worry that much,’ Rodriguez told the paper. ‘When I found out what happened, then that’s when I stood frozen.’
Police have questioned the woman who was wearing the red wig and they believe they know who the suspect is, but she has not yet been located or arrested.
‘That fight is so drastic that you feel you had to mow people down?’ neighbor Marsha Green told the Daily News. ‘I hope they catch her. I hope!’