NYPD tow-truck driver charged in crash that killed 7-year-old boy walking to school with his mom
The NYPD tow-truck driver who fatally struck a 7-year-old boy on his way to school with his mom has been charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and given a desk-appearance ticket, police said Friday.
Stephanie Sharp, 54, a civilian member of the NYPD, also was charged with failure to exercise due care after the Thursday morning collision that ended in the death of little Kamari Hughes in front of his stricken mother, cops said.
She was given a court-appearance ticket and released.
The scooter-riding youngster and his mother were crossing Myrtle Avenue at the North Portland Avenue intersection just outside Fort Greene Park around 7:50 a.m. when the truck hit the boy, causing him to fall to the ground, according to authorities and the child’s grandfather.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, cops said.
Heartbreaking video of the aftermath of the crash showed Kamari’s shocked mother sitting in the crosswalk next to her only child’s little body, which was covered in a white sheet, as investigators crouched down to speak to her and bystanders looked on from the sidewalk behind crime scene tape.
” ‘You hit my child!’ the mom first yelled out at the driver, who “got out for a second to look to see what she did and then got back in the car,” said witness Marlo Stevens, 50, who lives and works in Fort Greene.
“And then, when the mother realized the child was not moving, she said, ‘You killed my child!’ ” recalled Stevens.
The driver of the NYPD vehicle was making a right turn onto North Portland Avenue and hit the child while passing through the crosswalk, police said.
“When you saw that little baby’s skull … that was heart-wrenching,” said witness Antwoan Hayes, 40, of Coney Island, who was taking his two kids, 2 and 6, to school at the time.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told reporters the tow-truck driver stopped immediately, although both Hayes and Stevens claimed the motorist first tried to drive off before bystanders stopped her.
“The lady kept going. She kept moving. She kept going nine cars down, and two people jumped out in front of her vehicle,” Hayes said.
“That’s when she noticed and stopped,” he recounted.
“Everyone had to stop her and jump out in front of her vehicle for her to stop.”
The driver, who had a vehicle on the hitch of her truck, was heading to the Brooklyn tow pound at the time of the incident, Maddrey said.
Kamari’s grandfather, Derrick Vaughn, 58, told The Post he’d only held his grandson in his arms a day before his tragic death.
“He was amazing at math at 7 years old, loved doing division, loved school,” Vaughn said of the tragic child.
“He was a very outdoor dude – he liked to do flips, sports, basketball, and anything daredevil.
“If you met him, you’d love him,” the grieving grandfather added.
Latoya Franklin, 42, a close friend of the Hughes family, said Kamari’s mother was “not doing great at all” after the deadly incident.
“She’s going in and out,” Franklin said.
“She’s a loving mom, a hard worker, and this was her only child.”
Franklin said her own two daughters went to daycare and later preschool with Kamari – and they often went to the park and played together.
“He was such a happy neighborhood child that was just always happy and full of life,” Franklin recalled.
“That’s all there is to it. It’s a huge loss.”
