A New York woman who was involved in a hit-and-run on the night of Aug. 20 and ran into seven pedestrians may have had a manic episode.
Twenty-nine-year-old Imani Lucas was charged with seven counts of attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, and reckless driving in connection to the crash at West 36th and Sixth Avenue.
While Lucas was in custody, she told cops that “Jesus made me do it.” According to the cops and the mother, Lucas likely suffered a manic episode during the time of the crash.
“She said she was hearing voices,” her mother, Melissa Lucas, said to Gothamist.
“I asked her, I said, ‘Imani, where are you?’ She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know where she was going. She said, ‘I’m just driving. I’m just driving.’ And I said, ‘Where are you?’ ‘I don’t know. I don’t know,’” Melissa said. “And then that’s when I think I heard a police officer coming up to her talking, and then I heard something like ‘Bayside, Queens.’”
Lucas was driving a Honda Accord as she drove through a red light, striking pedestrians on the crosswalk, and continuing to drive off.
One of the pedestrians was a 34-year-old who was listed in critical condition after suffering a spinal cord injury. The other pedestrians suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Lucas then struck two cars on the Long Island Expressway before her car became disabled.
