Drunken driver jumps curb, kills tot: cops
A drunken, unlicensed driver on Tuesday plowed into and killed a 20-month-old girl in a stroller on a Bronx sidewalk in front of the victim’s horrified mom, police said.
The driver was headed north on White Plains Road when he lost control and jumped the curb trying to make a right turn onto E. 215th St. in Olinville about 3:55 p.m., police said.
He struck the toddler as her mom was feeding the little girl with a bottle, sources said.
“There was the crash. The lady was screaming, ‘Help! Help! My baby! My baby!’ ” said Atta Bofa, 47, who helped free the stroller, which was pinned against a wall by the driver’s 2002 BMW SUV.
“I said to her, ‘Where is the baby?’ She said, ‘The baby’s under the car!’ ” he said. “The car was against the wall. I helped push the car back. The baby was still in the stroller on the ground. I picked the baby up, but its whole body was broken.”
The baby girl’s neck was limp, Bofa said.
“I gave the baby to the mother. She was shaken and scared. We put the baby in some [private] car. He just pulled up and said, ‘Go, go, go!’ ” he said. “I did all I could.”
The toddler was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center, but couldn’t be saved.
The driver, whose name has not immediately released, was taken into custody. Sources said he was drunk and did not have a valid license.
Charges against him were pending.
“This is a loss too painful for words. Just one year old, killed on a sidewalk where children SHOULD be safe,” Mayor de Blasio tweeted Tuesday evening. “The NYPD arrested the driver at the scene and a full investigation is underway. We won’t rest until our streets are safe for our kids.”
The tragedy is the second this month involving an out-ofcontrol car killing a child.
On Sept. 10, Enzo Farachio, 10, was crushed to death at a bus stop in Midwood, Brooklyn, by an SUV that mounted a curb and plowed into him as he waitedforabustogohome.The driver of the Lexus may have suffered a medical episode, authorities said.
But the little boy’s mom told the Daily News she felt speed was a larger factor.
“If you were driving 25 mph, somebody could be alive today. But that’s not what happened,” the boy’s mom, Mary Majao, said.
“We need to have safe streets. This could have been prevented,” she added.
Transportation Alternatives also decried the latest death, and called for city leaders to take action.
“Traffic violence has become the norm in New York City, and it has to stop,” said Executive Director Danny Harris. “When there is a known danger in our midst, it is the responsibility of the government to take action and restore safety. To counter the swelling tide of death and injury on our streets and sidewalks, we need swift, serious solutions from our elected leaders, including measures to limit the power and prevalence of cars across all five boroughs.”
“All New Yorkers should be outraged. We deserve to feel safe on crosswalks, sidewalks and streets. We deserve leaders who make our safety — not unimpeded traffic flow, not free parking — the top priority on our streets. This crash represents a chance for Mayor de Blasio to demonstrate real Vision Zero leadership: go to the scene of the crash, stand with the child’s family, and tell New Yorkers that he will do whatever it takes, right now and for the remainder of his time in office, to bring an end to the carnage. New York can’t lose another life to our deadly car addiction.”