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A boy riding his scooter on Bleecker Street between Central and Wilson Avenues in Brooklyn was killed after two cars struck him yesterday. Christian Acetopan, who would have started first grade this week, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Around 5:20PM, a red Mistubishi Eclipse ran down Christian, who was with his brother (also on a scooter) and mother. A witness told the Daily News said the boy "was in the street riding the scooter. He tried to get away when he saw the car, but the car hit him." The driver then "stopped, he looked and kept on [going]"; the police arrested the suspected driver this morning.
Then a Toyota Rav4 minivan ran over Christian. The minivan's driver stopped and the Times says that driver will probably not be charged. A witness recounted to the Post, "The first car hit him, lifted him up, and he crashed down into the street.. The second car that hit him didn't even see it." And his brother Edgar, who was not injured, was crying in the street, trying to put Christian's helmet back on his head.
Christian's mother, described as a single mother who works six days in a factory, was taken to the hospital for observation. A friend said that she couldn't afford the scooters but had "scrimped" and saved to get them for her boys.
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Come on folks, move along. There's nothing to see here. Just another dead child on the streets of Brooklyn, the victim of a hit-and-run, he's not the first, and he won't be the last.
Come on, keep moving. You're New Yorkers, you have more imortant things on your mind: That dead hotelier and her dog. Shark sightings at a city beach. Some hurricane far away.
Come on, keep moving, just another dead kid on the street. You're New Yorkers, living in the greatest city in the world. By tomorrow, you'll forget that this has ever happened.
Why is drewo a dick?
"He was in the street riding the scooter," said Caroline Hernandez, 21. "He tried to get away when he saw the car, but the car hit him."
I don't know this particular street he was riding on, and I have to say, I don't understand the "tried to get away" comment (how exactly did he try to get away? Was he in the middle of the road?), but (1) 7 year olds really shouldn't be riding in any street on scooters; and (2) scooters are incredibly dangerous from the point of view of everyone around them.
Regarding #2, scooters can turn on a dime. They are like just about no other form of conveyance in terms of how quickly they can change direction.
Children do not understand to look before they turn and continue (adults aren't so hot either). As a bike rider, nothing scares me more than a child on a scooter because I know that kid can cut in front of me in a split second with a flick of their wrist (and often do). Hell, walking down the sidewalk I've had to dodge little kids who just turn at a 90 degree angle in front of me.
I don't know exactly what happened here, but when I read that a 7 year old was killed on a scooter while riding in the street, my initial reaction is that it's really sad that the mother probably didn't understand the danger presented by these scooters when she worked hard to save enough to buy them for her kids.
[3] wrote:
Agreed, with maybe the proviso that people who are walking dogs but not really paying attention to what they're doing are just as bad.That said, it doesn't make this kid's death any less tragic, nor does it make the fact that the first driver drove away after hitting him any less repugnant.