Cops yesterday cleared former NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir of any wrongdoing following an episode in which he hit a pregnant woman with his SUV and drove off.
The decision dumbfounded Joanne Valarezo, the woman he struck.
“I’m very upset,” said Valarezo, who is seven months pregnant. “It’s not right, because he is a human being like anyone else, and he left the scene of a crime.”
Valarezo, 30, of The Bronx, said her baby wasn’t hurt, but she suffered bruises.
The accident happened Friday afternoon as she tried to cross the street on Third Avenue between East 80th and 81st streets and Safir backed into her.
Police say Safir later told them he was unaware he had hit anyone, but Valarezo said that wasn’t possible. She said Safir was backing up his Cadillac Escalade to let a female passenger get in, and the woman screamed at him to pay attention.
Valarezo said that Safir’s car then struck her left shoulder and knee, but that the passenger hopped inside, and Safir drove off. She managed to get Safir’s license-plate number.
Police were called, and Valarezo gave them the license number, which they traced to Safir. Investigators decided not to press charges.