By Bill Parry
An elderly motorist claims he never saw the 9-year-old boy he allegedly struck and killed Saturday afternoon in Jackson Heights, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Queens Criminal Court.
Juan Jimenez, 86, of Manhattan, was traveling northbound on 70th Street in his red Jeep Compass, around 1:20 p.m., when he made a left turn onto Northern Boulevard and struck Giovanni Ampuero and his mother, Karen Manrique, in the crosswalk before he drove off only to be located a short distance away where the driver was taken into custody, police said.
Police from the 115th Precinct said officers found Ampuero with severe trauma to the head. EMS transported the boy to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD. Manrique was not seriously injured.
“I’m sorry I hit the kid, I didn’t see him,” Jimenez told police, according to the criminal complaint. “I was driving home to Manhattan from the casino. I made a left turn onto Northern Boulevard two blocks away from here. When I made the turn a woman jumped in front of my car but I did not hit her. I kept driving and a cab driver waved me down and told me I hit someone. It was an accident.”
Jimenez was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of and accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. He was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court and held on a $20,000 bond.
When asked why he fled the scene, Jimenez told police “I was scared. Some cab driver was threatening me,” according to the criminal complaint.
Jimenez is due back in court May 11.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
