Wrong-way driver kills mother of five on Boulevard

THE COTTON BALL taped to Everton Taylor's inner arm was the only sign he'd been in a hospital recently, but his bleary eyes and the weariness in his whispers were signs he'd been through much worse.

Taylor, 33, was driving his 2003 Mazda MPV home from work in New York early yesterday morning, heading south on Roosevelt Boulevard to his home on Stirling Street in Oxford Circle. His wife, Alesha, 36, was with him, attending nursing school in New York on the weekends while he worked. Their daughter, Jaeda, 3, was in the back seat.

Meanwhile, police said a 23-year-old woman was barreling her Buick Park Avenue toward their car, driving the wrong way on Roosevelt Boulevard and at 2:36 a.m., the cars collided head-on near Bleigh Avenue.

"It happened so fast. So loud," Taylor said, sitting on the stoop of his rowhouse as family members huddled around him yesterday afternoon.

Alesha Taylor suffered head trauma and a broken leg, and at Albert Einstein Medical Center, doctors learned that she had lacerated her liver. The mother of five died at 3:44 a.m.

Everton Taylor and his daughter suffered minor injuries.

Taylor said he and his wife go to New York every weekend together. Luckily, Taylor said, they didn't have more of their children in the car.

Everton Taylor, who was born in Jamaica and ran track in college, works at The Institutes of Applied Human Dynamics, which provides services for the disabled in the Bronx and Westchester counties in New York. Alesha spent every Saturday in school there, he said, continuing her nursing studies. They would travel home later every Saturday night.

"We only moved here a few months ago," Taylor said. "She wanted to have more room, more space. That was her dream and we did it."

Police said the driver of the Buick was taken to Aria Health's Frankford hospital with a dislocated hip. A female passenger, 24, was also treated there for a broken pelvis. No charges had been filed as of last night and police did not say whether they believed alcohol played a part in the crash.

Taylor cracked a small smile when he thought of the first time he ever saw his wife, about 12 years ago, at Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center in New York. He was there for a checkup and she was a nurse.

"She wasn't my nurse but I saw her," he said. "She really caught my eye."

The couple's wedding anniversary is in November, Taylor said, and they had planned to celebrate it right after Thanksgiving.

"She wanted to go to Miami, or maybe Las Vegas," he said, his voice trailing off as the sky darkened. "She was so excited about it."