Tragic SI boy, 7, hit by firetruck
Sad crash ' just a pure accident,' cops say
A 7-year-old boy was critically injured after being hit by a firetruck on Staten Island, officials said.
The gut-wrenching accident left a firefighter weeping and a heartbroken mom looking for answers.
The crash occurred at Broad and Gordon streets in the Stapleton section at around 7:20 a.m. Saturday, according to the FDNY.
The boy was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center in critical condition with severe head trauma and later airlifted to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, the NYPD said.
A source said the child may have been unattended and jumped out from behind a parked city bus while the FDNY truck was returning to Engine 153/Ladder 77 headquarters at 74 Broad St.
“This was just a pure accident. The kid ran into the street. It appears he was crossing mid-street outside any marked crosswalks,” an NYPD spokesman said. “It’s just a bad accident.”
The firetruck’s driver was weeping after the incident, a worker at the nearby Island Food Market told The Post.
“The driver was crying and the kid was laying on the floor,” said a distraught Jimmy Ahmed, 40.
“There was a lot of s--t going on,” Ahmed added. “I was in the store, and a lot of people were outside. I was trying to see if I knew the kid’s parents, but I’ve never seen that kid before.”
The child was bleeding from the head and not breathing until firefighters gave him oxygen, according to Ahmed.
The boy and his mom, who are not being identified by The Post, recently moved to Staten Island.
The FDNY confirmed a department vehicle was involved in the accident, which is under investigation, but declined further comment.
The boy’s mother posted pictures of the child posing with a fast-food meal, a Port Authority Police officer, and a kindergarten diploma and art award from his 2018-2019 school year at PS 9 Ryer Elementary School in The Bronx.
On a GoFundMe page launched in June titled “Trying to help my son,” the mom wrote she was “a Bronx girl who knows no one on Staten Island” and had only recently moved to a “project development.”
Their front door leads onto a balcony, the mom wrote, and her son had recently begun trying to climb over.
The mom, who said on the fundraiser that she lived in a homeless shelter for four years and was hoping for enough money to fix the lock on the door, said her son “has a severe case of ADHD.”