Miriam Yarimi, 35, was behind the wheel of an Audi on Saturday afternoon when she ran a red light at high speed and crashed into the Saada family in the Gravesend neighborhood, police said. Yarimi’s vehicle struck an Uber, overturned, and veered onto the sidewalk, where it hit the pedestrians in a crosswalk on Ocean Parkway.
Natasha Saada, 32, and her daughters Diana, 7, and Deborah, 5, were killed at the scene. Her 4-year-old son, Philip, was critically injured and remains hospitalized.
Yarimi, whose license was suspended at the time of the crash, told members of the Hatzolah Jewish ambulance service, “The devil entered me, I’m possessed,” according to law enforcement sources. She also claimed she was being pursued by the CIA. Yarimi was taken to Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward for a psychiatric evaluation and is awaiting arraignment.
Authorities said Yarimi has been charged with multiple counts of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, reckless driving, and operating a vehicle without a license under aggravated circumstances. She was also cited for failing to yield while turning right on red and for excessive speed.
City records show that Yarimi’s vehicle, which bore a personalized plate reading “WIGM8KER,” had accumulated more than 90 traffic violations, including 21 speeding tickets and five red-light infractions since August 2023.
Yarimi, a wigmaker known on social media for her custom hairpieces, was previously awarded $2 million in a civil settlement with the city after accusing a former police officer of sexually assaulting her over a number of years, beginning when she was 14.
“She’s had a very difficult life, but nothing can justify what happened,” her attorney, Andrew Laufer, said.
Neighbors described Yarimi as unpredictable. “She was nice, but unstable,” said a neighbor named Angie. “Police had taken her for psychiatric care before, but she always came back.” Another neighbor said she was a caring mother when on her medication but became erratic when she stopped taking it. One acquaintance said Yarimi had described herself as “addicted to adrenaline” and obsessed with driving fast cars.
In contrast, residents mourning the Saada family described them as warm and beloved. “It’s incomprehensible,” one neighbor told CBS. “The kids’ laughter filled the street. Now there’s a terrible silence.” Another said Natasha Saada was “a devoted mother who didn’t deserve such a fate.”
A memorial service for Saada and her daughters was held Saturday night at Shomrei Hadas chapel in Borough Park. Hundreds gathered to mourn. “Shabbat was Natasha’s whole world—and on Shabbat, she left us,” a rabbi said during the eulogy.
Saada’s father was expected to accompany the bodies to Jerusalem for burial. Her husband remained in New York with their baby and will sit shiva, the traditional Jewish mourning period, while tending to their injured son.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams visited the grieving family on Sunday. “I had to be here,” Adams told the father. “From one father to another.”
As the community continues to mourn, anger has mounted. “This wasn’t an accident, this was murder on the road,” one neighbor said. “How was she allowed to keep driving?”
