The hit-and-run suspect who police say reversed his Mercedes SUV into a Kennedy's Fried Chicken in the Bronx, killing a 7-year-old boy and injuring his father and younger sister, is facing felony charges of fleeing the scene of a crasha felony charge of fleeing the scene of a crash, plus five other hit-and-run-related misdemeanor charges.
The driver, 73-year-old Kwasi Oduro, is a pharmacy technician at Jacobi Medical in Morris Park, according to ABC7. His Legal Aid lawyer argued that he is not a flight risk at his arraignment on Friday, and he made the $10,000 bail set by a judge, the station reported.
Jacobi Hospital is where young Ethan Villavicencio was pronounced dead on Thursday following the crash. Witnesses described a crowd of bystanders chasing Oduro's vehicle as he drove away from the carnage inside the restaurant, and one man, on catching up to him, opening the vehicle's door in an attempt to prevent him from fleeing. Police caught up to Oduro not far away, according to reports.
Oduro faces as many as 75 days in prison and fines of as much as $7,500 seven years in prison. As the road-safety advocacy website Streetsblog notes, Oduro likely would not have been charged with a crime had he remained at the scene:
In March a speeding green cab driver fatally struck 5-year-old Tierre Clark on a Grand Concourse sidewalk, and last October a motorist killed 8-year-old Rylee Ramos and hit nine other people on the sidewalk outside a school in Kingsbridge. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson filed no charges against either of those drivers.
Update June 8th:
Updated to reflect a maximum sentence provided by the Bronx District Attorney's Office. The earlier figure was based on our reading of the statute under which Oduro is being charged, and on online court records.
