Horrific moment hit-and-run SUV driver plows into grandmother, 62, and her three-year-old grandson in the Bronx miraculously leaving them with only cuts and bruises
Horrific surveillance footage shows the driver of an SUV plow his vehicle into a 62-year-old grandmother and her three-year-old grandson in his baby stroller at a Bronx intersection in broad daylight on Monday.
The New York Police Department on Sunday arrested a Putnam County man alleged to be the driver of the red GMC Terrain Denali.
Otello Rapini, 69, of Mahopac, New York, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident, WABC-TV reported.
The New York Police Department last week released video of a hit-and-run that took place at the intersection of Mace Avenue and Eastchester Road in the Pelham Gardens section of The Bronx on Monday
At around 2:20pm, a 62-year-old grandmother entered the crosswalk while pushing a stroller carrying her three-year-old grandson
Moments later, the driver of a red GMC Terrain Denali plowed into the woman, sending her and the stroller toward the ground
The image above shows the grandmother being knocked to the pavement while the stroller is flung several feet
The NYPD says that the driver (pictured left) briefly got out of his vehicle to examine the scene before fleeing the area. Otello Rapini (right), 69, of Mahopac, New York, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident
The incident took place at around 2:20pm at the intersection of Mace Avenue and Eastchester Road in the Pelham Gardens section of The Bronx on Monday.
According to police, after the collision, the driver briefly got out of his SUV before getting back in and driving off.
Fortunately, the child and his grandmother did not sustain severe injuries.
The boy was treated for a cut to the head while his grandmother declined medical treatment. She suffered a bruised leg.
Erlon Kola, the boy’s father, revealed a cut on his son's head which he sustained as a result of the incident
Neither of them spent the night at a hospital.
Erlon Kola, the boy’s father, is relieved that his son and mother-in-law were not seriously hurt.
‘He didn't make any attempt to stop and try to do the right thing, like any other human being would've done,’ Kola said of the driver.
‘And I'm just really shocked and obviously disappointed by that, but in the meantime, I'm just glad my son is still here with me, so that's all that matters.’
Kola went Christmas shopping on Monday and left his son with his mother-in-law.
He was nearby when he received a telephone call from the mother-in-law telling him of the incident.
Kola quickly rushed to the scene, where he saw his son and mother-in-law in an ambulance.
His wife, a nurse practitioner at a local hospital, met the three of them in the emergency room.
The hit-and-run took place just three days before the boy turned three years of age on Christmas Eve.
No comments