An NYPD tow truck driver struck and killed a 7-year-old boy who was crossing the street in Brooklyn early Thursday, according to police.
The child was crossing at an intersection near Myrtle Avenue and North Portland Avenue in Fort Greene around 7:45 a.m. when the back of the truck struck him during a turn, officials said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the boy’s mother was walking behind him when he was struck. His name has not yet been released as police continue to investigate the incident.
The boy’s small green scooter and orange backpack were still laying on the pavement hours later, not far from a white sheet that had been used to cover his body. Police and detectives photographed the items as shell-shocked neighbors from NYCHA’s Whitman Houses looked on.
Some witnesses expressed shock and outrage at the scene on Thursday morning.
“It wasn’t an accident, it was carelessness,” said Antwoan Hayes, who had parked his car near the intersection and was taking his children to school when the boy was struck.
That little boy was on his way to school. Seven years old. A little kid from this community. That’s why people are angry.
“That little boy was on his way to school,” Hayes added. “Seven years old. A little kid from this community. That’s why people are angry.”
Hayes said the boy was crossing the street on his scooter when the driver of the truck turned through the crosswalk, striking him as his mother walked steps behind with another child in a stroller.
“The mother just started screaming frantically, ‘They killed my baby, they killed my baby!’” Hayes recounted. “That little baby was gone. I didn’t want my babies to see that, so I took them out of the other side of the car.”
Several witnesses said the tow truck driver was speeding around the corner and did not immediately stop after hitting the child.
“She tried to keep going,” Hayes said.
Tyrana Carter, a Whitman Houses resident who…
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