New York Daily News

Teen vic’s pain

3 yrs. after shoot, says he’ll never regain use of eye

- BY CHRISTINA CARREGA Gama Droiville (left), now 16, lost his right eye to a stray shot fired by Bloods member Kareem Potomont (right), says Brooklyn DA.

A BROOKLYN teenager who lost an eye to a gangbanger’s stray bullet told a jury Monday of his struggle to live a normal life.

Gama Droiville, then 13, was waiting for the B41 bus with his aunt and 8-year-old cousin to go to a 50th birthday party on April 14, 2014, when he heard three or four loud bangs.

Prosecutor­s said Kareem Potomont, who is on trial for attempted murder in Brooklyn Supreme Court, opened fire on another gang member near Beverly Road and Flatbush Ave.

Officials said Potomont hit his rival, Eduardo Dolphy, in the leg, but also managed to take out Gama’s right eye with a stray shot to his head.

“I turned to my left and that’s when I got hit,” Gama said Monday on the witness stand.

“I was hit exactly in my eye, my body went numb and I fell to the ground. I got back up and tried to find shelter and seek cover in the pizzeria shop.”

The gunman can be seen on surveillan­ce video pulling a hood over his head and fleeing the scene. Gama, meanwhile, passed out on the street from the loss of blood.

Prosecutor­s said Potomont was a Bloods gang member and had a beef with Dolphy, another Bloods member, over a 2011 murder present.

Gama, now a 16-year-old choirboy at the French Speaking Baptist Church, said his mother sent him to New York from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with hopes of a better life.

Potomont, 24, has said he was acting in self-defense and was under extreme emotional distress during the shooting.

Since the incident, Gama has had three surgeries to stop massive headaches, patch the hole on the right side of his face and correct his prosthetic eye.

“Will you ever have full function in your right eye?” asked Assistant District Attorney Yaniris Urraca.

“No,” said Gama, who permanentl­y wears glasses to protect his left eye.

Outside court, Gama told the Daily News his ordeal inspired him to want to study law and become an attorney. at which both were

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States