Boy, 9, killed in Qns. hit-run
AN 86-YEAR-OLD driver struck and killed a 9-year-old boy just steps from his Queens home Saturday, and then sped away — finally stopped by a motorist who’d followed him, cops said.
Medics rushed the boy, Giovanni Ampuero, to Elmhurst Hospital with severe trauma to his head and body. He died at the hospital.
Driver Juan Jimenez, who lives in Manhattan, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
“Wake up, wake up! Don’t leave me!” Giovanni’s panicked mother screamed as she shook her unconscious son in the crosswalk at 70th St. and Northern Blvd. about 1:20 p.m., witnessed said.
The youngster was crossing the street when a red Jeep Compass slammed into him.
“The car never stopped,” said Martin Mejia, 45. “They saw and they (didn’t) stop.”
After a few moments, the little boy stirred, and vomited blood, according to Mejia.
“Don’t let me go!” the dying boy begged his mom, Mejia said. “I’m not feeling good.”
Just a block away from the scene of the hit-and-run, an electronic sign in the street read, “Drive like your kids walk here.”
Jimenez’s Compass was heading north on 70th St. and was about to make a left turn onto Northern Blvd. when it struck the youngster.
Jimenez continued driving down the street, witnesses said.
A motorist not involved in the accident followed him for about five blocks — under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway — before stopping him at 60th St.
The tragic hit-and-run stuck with Mejia, who was on his way to Manhattan to make deliveries for his job.
“I feel bad because my son is like 10 years old. I cried driving today. Everybody has a family. You have to give respect to all the people when they are crossing the street,” Mejia said.