A Brooklyn toddler was killed Thursday afternoon after he was struck by the driver of a commercial van in Bath Beach, Brooklyn.
According to the NYPD, 3-year-old Emur Shavkator was crossing Bay 25th Street in a marked crosswalk alongside his mother when he was struck by the driver of a 2011 Chevy. The crash occurred on a residential, one-way street just a few blocks from the victim's home. Shavkator was transported to Coney Island Hospital and pronounced dead at around 1 p.m.
Photos taken at the scene show a Chevy cargo van, emblazoned with the Skittles and Lifesavers logos, surrounded by caution tape.
The driver, 61-year-old Johnny Gonzalez, was attempting to make a right turn onto Benson Avenue when he struck the child, police said. He was arrested on Thursday afternoon and charged with failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to a pedestrian—both misdemeanors that carry a penalty of up to $500 in fines and a maximum 30 days in jail under New York's Right-of-Way law.
An hour after the 3-year-old boy was killed, a second pedestrian was reportedly struck by a Ford pickup truck driver on the Upper East Side. The victim was hospitalized, but their injuries are not believed to be serious.
Police statistics show that at least 65 people have been killed on the streets of New York City this year, a 30 percent increase from the same period in 2018.
