The death of a 5-year-old boy in a traffic accident on Sunday has resulted in the arrest of the driver. The child was struck and killed in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn around 8:30 PM.
The child was crossing the street with his mother and two other people in the middle of the block on Empire Boulevard between Rogers and Nostrand Avenues. The driver was backing up a Honda van in the westbound lane and when she struck the child. He was taken to King’s County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The 23-year-old driver fled the scene after the mother banged on the van begging her to stop, but returned later. The Brooklyn woman was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, red light violations and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
This is the second time this year that a New York City child has died in a pedestrian accident in 2014. In January, a nine-year-old boy was hit by a taxi while crossing the street with his father. The boy and his father were in the crosswalk when the child was struck. There have been at least 20 other pedestrian deaths in New York this year.
This death is the latest in a series of fatal pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Mayor Bill de Blasio has a plan to eliminate deaths such as this by widening parking lanes and providing better enforcement of speed limits on the streets of New York City.
Source: New York Times, “Driver Is Arrested After Child’s Death in Traffic Accident,” Mar. 17,