Family grieves for boy in hit and run

&#8220I want to know why he left, why he didn't stop,” said Todd Gibson, the stepfather of the 12-year-old boy killed in a hit and run accident in Richmond Hill. &#8220He left my son there to die. He just left him.”
His son Jacob Colon was allegedly mowed down by Juan Franjul, 46, on Saturday, December 16 on Atlantic Avenue, just moments after the boy had left his mother's place of work.
According to the Queens District Attorney's office, it is believed that Franjul was driving 40 to 50 miles per hour along Atlantic Avenue, a non-posted 30 miles-per-hour speed zone, when he hit Colon.
Franjul was allegedly fleeing the scene of another accident he was involved in just a few minutes earlier.
In the first incident, which took place at approximately 6 p.m. at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and 111th Street, Franjul allegedly rear-ended a 1993 Toyota while he was driving a customer's 1993 Mercedes Benz 500 SEL that had been brought into Met Auto Body, the business he owns, for repair.
After the driver of the Toyota proceeded to call the police on his cell phone, Franjul returned to his car and drove off without identifying himself, the statement said.
Three blocks later, Franjul allegedly plowed into Colon, who, according to the boy's mother, Diana, was on his way home to retrieve his bicycle after helping her at the nearby laundromat where she works.
According to family members and friends, the outgoing boy would help his mother there each Saturday.
&#8220He was such a sweet guy,” said Shamsun Rimi, 25, whose family lives in and owns the Richmond Hill building where Colon lived with his mother, stepfather and four siblings. &#8220He was always helping his mom, taking the garbage out. He was always quiet and helpful.”
Police arrested Franjul on Sunday, December 17 when he surrendered himself to the 102nd Precinct.
Franjul, who resides at 87-57 124th Street, was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court on Monday, December 18. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter, leaving the scene of a death, leaving the scene of property damage, reckless endangerment, speeding and failure to stop at a red light.
Judge Joseph A. Zayas set bail for the Richmond Hill auto mechanic at $500,000, an amount Colon's family and friends believe is paltry in comparison to the devastation they have suffered.
&#8220He shouldn't have had a bail at all,” said Gibson, shaking his head and gazing into the distance after returning home from the nighttime arraignment.
Franjul's next court date is set for January 2, 2007 and he will face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Following the arraignment, both friends and strangers stopped to pay their final respects to the boy at a makeshift memorial constructed of milk crates, Plexiglas, flowers and stuffed toys.
There, on the traffic island that runs down the middle of Atlantic Avenue between 107th and 108th Streets, below his bicycle, the dim, flickering lights of dozens of candles illuminated messages to the youth who always wore a uniform of jeans, T-shirts, sneakers and a fitted hat, his mother said, adding that he will be buried in similar clothes.