(Photo: Facebook)
April 30, 2018 By Tara Law
An 86-year-old man who struck and killed a 9-year-old boy with his car as the child was crossing Northern Boulevard Saturday has been charged.
Juan B. Jimenez, a Morningside Heights resident, was driving his red Jeep Compass north on 70th Street around 1:23 p.m. when he turned left onto Northern Boulevard and struck dead Giovanni Ampuero, 9, who was crossing the street with his mother, Karen Manrique, police said.
Jimenez kept driving but was stopped a short distance away by a motorist before police arrived. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
Emergency responders rushed Ampuero to Elmhurst General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“My heart is broken into pieces,” Manrique wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
Terrible news that a 9 year old boy was struck on #NorthernBlvd today. @NYPD115Pct called in all cars to catch the #hitandrun driver, who hit them making a left into crosswalk. @mgdendekker there, and thx for supporting the family and community. pic.twitter.com/v9Ai4Aw0xm
— Make Queens Safer (@MakeQueensSafer) April 28, 2018
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24 Comments
Please sign and share this petition to urge DMV to make changes to its license renewal policy:
https://www.change.org/p/andrew-cuomo-urge-new-york-state-dmv-to-introduce-retesting-every-2-years-once-a-driver-turns-80
I agree that these senior citizens need to have a doctor’s note saying that they can still drive. Also, test their vision and their hearing as well. There are way too many accidents caused by senior citizens. I saw another one recently while on Northern Blvd one day when a teen was riding a bike and a senior citizen driving hit the kid. Luckily the kid was okay and just hurt his leg. This has to stop. Way too many accidents on Northern Blvd !
I mean how many more victims??? 86 years old. She has no business driving anymore and I don’t who gets pissed off. Let her go through the process again, I will bet you ANYTHING she will NEVER pass the written and/or the driving exam. Too old to be driving. This little boy’s life could have been saved if someone would have just taken this woman’s keys!!
The article said he not she
It was a male driver
I hate walking by Northern blvd. On every street you look somebody was run over recently. We need photo enforced systems put in place to photograph those who break the law and give them hefty tickets for speeding or crossing red lights; which is very common on Northern blvd of death. Just yesterday i was crossing 104 and northern blvd while the light was green on me. But she speed like 50miles an hour right beside me. What was i supposed to do? I tried getting her license plate but didnt want to keep standing on the road so I left all shook. I wanted to drag that person out of the car. I noticed there is no photographic security in place. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR NYC TRANSIT???????
My heartfelt sympathies to the family of this little Angel.
People over the age of 75 or so should have to go for a yearly driving test to renew license. Whatever the age, reflects, eyesight, good judgement, processing, etc. should be checked during a driving test with DMV. Most will be fine. But it is important.
Unless things have changed over the years don’t expect much to happen to the driver. I lost my son to a drunk 19 yr. old also hit and run doing about 90 miles per hour. The only thing that happened to him was they took his license for 5 years. My son was gone forever.
Eileen Bennett what did you do about the person that took your beloved 5 year old son? You let him walk away with your son’s life? He’s walking today, probably doesn’t even care your son is gone. Do you care or are you just looking for sympathy? If you did care that someone took you little boy’s life you would do something about it. Because the law did nothing. You’ve been a coward for far too long. Find this person and end his life. Take him out and put him in the same place he put your son. Or just be another coward mother who doesn’t care about his son and is only looking for sympathy. I hope you do the right thing. End his life and don’t be a whinny little coward. Your son is gone and he’s still here.
Renaldo – ,
That is one STUPID comment you posted .
You’re a P.O.S calling a mother a coward.
I’m sure you are all talk and no action .
Did you just finish watching Charles Bronson in ” Death Wish” ? or something ? . Renaldo ??
Renaldo ,
She said they took his license for 5 years, not that her son was 5yrs old.
Get help in reading & comprehension.
Sounds like person with rocks in his .
Renaldo, dumb comment buddy
Stay quiet please.
Renaldo , you are wrong in so many ways , calling a mother that lost her child a coward is the most stupidest thing I’ve ever heard
Renaldo you should have been the one under that car ,not that little boy.
You’re a scumbag writing that crap
Please follow AP stylebook and call this what it is- a crash, not an accident. ‘Accident’ eliminates blame. Surprised to see this man even charged. Had he stayed on the scene, he likely wouldn’t have faced charges. We need to take elderly dangerous driving as serious as we do teen dangerous driving. The numbers for both are pretty close.
These senior citizen that still want to drive should have a doctors note saying they are able . To many “accidents ” with them confusing the brake pedal with the gas pedal , and their meds making them incapable of operating a car .
And the young drivers behave as if they are in a Rally Race Course the way they drive with no regard to anyone else on the road ( being cyclist, pedestrian or other drivers ).
NYPD + DMV + DOT should all work together if they want VISION ZERO to work
Accident is accident.But We should b very careful while making a turn.80+ people make the traffic worse every weekend.City should think about it.
It is becoming the new boulevard of death because of the overflow of traffic leaving Queens Boulevard and driving to Northern. Vision zero sucks.
I’ve lived in Woodside well over 55 years and Northern Blvd always had its share of terrible incidents, I don’t know where you’ve been.
What makes it worse is that the old man ran from the accident, it would have been a hit&run if not for the good Samaritan that stoped the guy.
NYPD / traffic enforcement / DOT needs to focus on :
Aggressive Drivers
Distracted Drivers & distracted pedestrians.
Northern Blvd is becoming the new ” Blvd of Death” .
The day this happened was a clear , dry afternoon
You forgot Road Rage
Agree I pick up my daughter from school every day. I make that left turn on 70th street from Northern Blvd drivers are beeping for me to run the light and curse at me. I don’t care. I wait for that green arrow for my turn.