Police: Woman pushing stroller hit, killed by car in Long Beach

A woman pushing a baby carriage was struck by a car and killed Thursday morning in Long Beach, police said.

Responding officers were initially concerned that there was a baby in the stroller, but they determined the 63-year-old victim was using it to carry goods from nearby stores, Long Beach police said.

The Nassau Police Homicide Squad on Thursday afternoon identified the victim as Deborah Batus of Long Beach, but voter registration and public records showed her name as Debra Batus.

“We looked everywhere,” Long Beach police Lt. Mark Stark said of the initial scene. “You see the stroller, you don’t know what to think. Thankfully, there was no child . . . but, believe me, officers searched everywhere.”

Batus was struck in the right westbound lane of Park Avenue at Pacific Boulevard at about 6:30 a.m., police said. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police said the driver, whose identity was not released, remained at the scene.

Stark said the driver, identified only as a woman, was tested for drugs and alcohol. She was not charged and Stark said initial indications are that there was no criminality involved.

With John Asbury and Joan Gralla

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”