By Christina Santucci
A 6-year-old girl was in critical condition after being struck by an SUV in Jamaica Tuesday evening while waiting to buy ice cream, police and witnesses said. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, according to police.
“I heard the impact. I looked out the window and saw the little girl lying in the street,” said neighbor Stephanie Clark, 44, who lives near the corner of 168th Place and 104th Avenue, where the accident took place.
Two $1 bills were lying by the child’s feet, Clark said.
“She was waiting for the ice cream truck,” she said, explaining that several kids were playing together at 7:45 p.m. near the corner at the time of the crash.
Clark called 911 and was told to check the girl’s pulse and to see if she was breathing. The child’s legs were scraped and she had a large wound to the head, Clark said.
After the girl, who several neighbors said was a resident of Brooklyn, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, police investigated the scene and vehicle involved, which had a broken headlight on the driver’s side.
The driver of the Mitsubishi Montero Sport, who police identified as Kent Lowrie, 53, of 104th Avenue in Jamaica, was arrested and charged with vehicular assault and DWI, police said Wednesday afternoon.
A neighbor, George Rosner, 61, who has lived on the street since 1974, complained that after 104th Avenue was changed to a one-way street about a year ago, vehicles have been flying down the block.
“Since they made it a one-way, it’s been like a race to the boulevard,” Rosner said, with drivers often headed to Merrick Boulevard. “This is like one straight shot.”
