Infant killed in hit-&-run
Arrest after crash forces cars on sidewalk in B’klyn
A driver charged with fatally striking a 3-month-old baby girl in Brooklyn abandoned his crashed car and tried to flee by carjacking another vehicle, cops said Sunday.
Tyrik Mott, 28, was allegedly driving a 2017 Honda Civic the wrong way on Gates Ave. in Clinton Hill when he slammed into a 2020 Honda Civic at Vanderbilt Ave. about 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, police said.
Mott’s Honda Civic had Pennsylvania plates — and 160 traffic violations since June 2017. The car in 2021 alone was hit with 35 camera tickets for speeding in school zones and seven for failing to stop at red lights.
The crash sent both cars over the curb on to the sidewalk, slamming into the baby in the stroller, her mother and a 36-year-old-male relative, cops said. The mother was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Brooklyn Methodist in serious condition and underwent emergency surgery late Saturday.
The 3-month-old baby girl was identified Sunday night as Apolline Mong-Guillemin.
The male relative and the 49-year-old woman behind the wheel of the Civic that Mott is accused of striking were also hospitalized, authorities said.
EMS rushed little Apolline to Brooklyn Hospital, where she died with a collapsed lung about 90 minutes later, sources said.
Mott’s car was totaled after the crash. He ran more than two blocks to Atlantic Ave., where he attempted to carjack a 2020 Hyundai from a 41-year-old man, according to cops.
The suspect, who lives in Crown Heights, was arraigned Sunday on charges of attempted grand larceny, attempted robbery and attempted unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Prosecutors said Sunday night he’ll likely face additional charges Monday connected to little Apolline’s death.
He was ordered held on at $100,000 cash bail, or $200,000 partially secured bond.
His mother, girlfriend, brother and two other relatives watched the courtroom proceedings Sunday night.
“He’s a good boy,” Mott’s mother said before the arraignment, looking sullen and drained.
Mayor de Blasio in February 2020 signed legislation that allows city enforcement agencies to impound any car with at least 15 speed-camera tickets or five redlight tickets during a 12-month period.
De Blasio spokesman Mitch Schwartz said an investigation was underway into Mott and his record of recklessness.
“The killing of this child not only brings profound sadness, it brings parents and good people across this city an unshakable anger,” the mayor said in a statement. “Anger that careless, reckless drivers continue to take innocent lives. It goes against the core of our Vision Zero commitment. And while it does not bring this child back, we must pass Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act in Albany as a tribute to this child and every New Yorker killed by a car.”
De Blasio’s Vision Zero program, which launched in 2014 with the goal of eventually reducing to zero preventable fatal car crashes in the city, has fallen short in recent years.
The number of annual traffic deaths in the city began to rise in 2019, and this year is on pace to be the deadliest for pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorists since the year the Vision Zero program launched.