Father of 4-year-old hit-and-run victim says guilt must be eating away at biker

The dad of the 4-year-old boy critically injured by a motor bike in a Queens hit-and-run told The Post on Tuesday that guilt must be eating up the rider who sped away from the scene.

“Why would you flee a scene on a 4-year old?” said Chris Beauchamps, whose son, Jonathan, remains hospitalized with injuries from Sunday’s incident. “How can you hold the guilt inside you and watch this on the news and see a 4-year old that you hit?

“He knows he wants to turn himself in, but he’s scared,” Beauchamps, 30, said of the rider. “It’s eating him inside. I know that’s eating him inside.”

Beauchamps and Jonathan’s stepmother, Jaimee Cesario, described Sunday’s harrowing scene and the dramatic race to get the boy to the hospital. As of Tuesday, the child was breathing on his own and his condition improving, his family said.

A rider on an apparently illegal bike had slammed into Jonathan while the child played in the Meadowlake Trail parking lot at Flushing Meadow Park at about 5:45 p.m.

The boy was flung into the air and landed on his head, suffering a broken ankle and bruises to his liver and lungs, his stepmother said.

“We didn’t wait for the ambulance. We couldn’t wait,” Beauchamps said. 

As the dad drove through traffic lights and pressed on his car horn to clear a path to the hospital with his wounded boy, Cesario said she feared Jonathan  was on the brink of death.

“You never know if there’s internal bleeding waiting,” said Cesario, 24. “So we just waited, we secured the neck, just in case of anything, and we just rushed him to the nearest hospital.”

They took Jonathan to Flushing Hospital, and he was transferred to Cohen Children’s Medical Center after being intubated, Cesario said.

By Tuesday, the child was occasionally mustering enough strength to smile at them from his hospital bed, his family said.

“He’s doing better,” Beauchamps said. “He’s recovering fast. He’s breathing on his own now, because he wasn’t breathing before on his own.”

Police are now offering up a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the rider, NYPD officials said at a news conference at One Police Plaza.

“No parent should have to endure such a senseless act,” said Kim Royster, the NYPD’s chief of transportation. “This is an active investigation and detectives are combing the area to get more information.”

It isn’t clear what type of bike he was using, but it appeared speed was a factor, said Detective Frank Cardamone, of the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad.

“He was traveling at a higher rate of speed than you should be traveling in a parking lot when he struck the child,” Cardamone said.

The boy’s father said it appeared the rider was racing in the lot, and he described the bike as a modified moped.

The suspect was described by police as a possibly Hispanic male in his teens or 20s.

Because the crash was in a park, there’s no known video that shows the kid getting hit or the bike in the area, cops said.

“There’s some video on the parkway that we’re looking at to see if the vehicles come in or out of the park,” Cardamone said.

Royster noted that ATVs and dirt bikes are not road legal because they cannot be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles. Cops say they’ve seized over 500 of the bikes over the past week.

“The person cannot get a license and they don’t have the proper signaling device that would be required on a motorcycle,” Royster said.

“So that’s what makes these bikes illegal,” she added.

“And they’re dangerous because people are using them to speed in the streets, which is very popular. At any time, pedestrians or other cyclists will be walking or riding and these particular devices are speeding through the streets. ” 

The reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction was doubled from $5,000.

“We’re asking if you have any information or video regarding this incident please contact our crime stoppers number,” Royster said.

Police are working with the Queens District Attorney’s office to “prosecute this person to the fullest extent of the law,” Royster said.

Confidential tips can be made through 1-800- 577-TIPS.