Mother Injured, Son Killed by Car in Manhattan

Pedestrian Accident

MANHATTAN, N.Y. — A pedestrian accident in East Harlem claimed the life of a three-year-old boy and injured his mother. The mother and son were crossing an intersection in the crosswalk when a pickup truck slammed into them around 9:30 in the morning. ABC 7 N.Y. reported that the crash happened at First Avenue and 116^thStreet in East Harlem. Both mother and child were rushed by an ambulance to a local emergency room. Doctors there pronounced the child dead from his injuries.

The passers-by who witnessed the terrifying pedestrian accident say they will be forever haunted by the sights they saw. Witnesses indicated that the 25-year-old mother was pushing a stroller in the rain, and the three-year-old boy was carrying an umbrella when a Ford F-250 pickup truck operated by a man residing in Yonkers crashed into them. Witnesses explained that the child went “under” the truck. The child’s mother, in a state of shock, held her bleeding baby on the street. Witnesses said there was nothing that could be done to save the child.

The driver of the pickup truck did not bring the vehicle to an immediate stop. Another pedestrian flagged the driver down. He stopped at that point. Witnesses reported that they saw the man punching his truck in anger and disbelief over what had just happened.

ABC 7 N.Y. reporters obtained a copy of the surveillance video that captured the crash. The news report indicates that the suspect pickup truck driver took a left turn onto First Avenue, and the driver did not see the pedestrians in the roadway.

Officers took the pickup truck driver into custody at the scene. Their investigation revealed that the driver had a license, but it was suspended. As a result, the police charged the driver with failing to yield and exercise care as well as aggravated unlicensed operations in the third-degree.

Shockingly, the child who died was the sixth child in 2019 to die in pedestrian crashes in New York City.