By Alexander Dworkowitz
A 4-year-old boy sitting in a stroller was killed Saturday morning when a black Chevrolet collided with a red Jeep and jumped up on the sidewalk on a Richmond Hill street corner, police said.
Sergio Lara, 4, of Richmond Hill, was with his family at the corner of 103rd Avenue and 120th Street when he was hit by a black Chevrolet, police said. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“[The mother] was screaming, ‘Oh my baby, oh my son,” said a neighbor. “I saw the blood and it was so much.”
The neighbor, who did not wish to give her name, said she rushed to the child and wrapped paper towels around his wounds to help control the bleeding. Another man attempted to give the child CPR while getting instructions from paramedics on a cell phone, she said.
The boy’s sister, Angy Lara, a 14-month-old baby, was also taken to Jamaica Hospital with a bruised leg, police said. The mother, Karla Lara, 30, also suffered a minor injury, the authorities said.
A third sibling, a girl about the age of 3, and the mother’s sister-in-law were also on the corner but were not injured, witnesses who spoke with the family said.
Police made no arrests and issued no summons.
The accident, which occurred at 11:40 a.m., involved a 1995 red Jeep and a 1988 black Chevrolet, police said.
The Jeep, heading west on 103rd Avenue, collided with the Chevrolet traveling north on 120th Street, police said. The Chevrolet was sent careening onto the sidewalk, where it hit the family.
“I’m in shock,” said the driver of the Jeep, a man in his 20s who did not wish to give his name.
Dozens of nearby residents gathered around the scene, where the boy’s stroller lay mangled in front of the car that had hit him.
Danny Ramnarine, who ran to the intersection after he heard the commotion, did not know Lara had died and hoped he might survive.
“The boy — we hope to God he’s OK,” said Danny Ramnarine. “He was bleeding all over.”
Residents said accidents were common at the corner.
“We’ve been here a year and we’ve had over a hundred accidents,” said Ramlall Taja, who lives on corner where the boy was struck.
With 120th Street running one way north, the street has one stop sign at the southern end of the intersection. 103rd Avenue has no stop signs, although there are stoplights on the street one block to the west and one block to the east.
In response to residents complaints about accidents as well as letters from Councilman Allan Jennings (D-Jamaica) and former Councilman Thomas White Jr., the city Department of Transportation began studying the intersection in January, said DOT spokesman Tom Coccola.
“On April 1 we determined that it was a candidate for a traffic light,” said Coccola. “We noticed increase volume in that intersection.”
The DOT typically takes six months to install a traffic signal, Coccola said.
After the accident, the family spoke with Jennings, who contacted the Red Cross. The councilman is working with the agency to help the family pay for the $6,000 in costs for the boy’s funeral.
Jennings also is hoping secure an emergency visa for the boy’s maternal grandmother to visit the family from her home in Guatemala, the councilman said.
The boy’s paternal grandmother, who lives in New York City, went to Guatemala last week to bury her own mother and is unable to return because of fainting spells, Jennings said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
