Homicide charge for speeding pick-up truck driver who hit boy, 8, in front of mom in Queens crosswalk

The speeding Queens pickup truck driver who fatally struck an 8-year-old boy in front of the victim’s horrified mother has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, police said Thursday.

Jose Barcia, 52, was also charged with failure to yield, failure to exercise due care and driving at an unsafe speed.

He was swerving around another vehicle when he fatally struck Bayron Palomino Arroyo in an East Elmhurst crosswalk at about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to police. The fatally struck boy’s 10-year-old brother was also hit, but is expected to recover.

“He loved playing with his brother and sister,” Bayron’s heartbroken mom, Guadalupe Arroyo, said in Spanish outside their East Elmhurst home, just down the block from where her son was killed.

She stood arm-in-arm with her husband and the boy’s father, Bartolo Palomino. They were both crying.

Bayron’s sibling Bradley wore a cast on his left arm and talked about how much he’s going to miss his little brother. His sister Sherlyn looked on and held him close

“I feel sad,” the boy said. “My brother was always happy and cheerful. My brother always had jokes to tell me and my sister.”

Arroyo said she was appealing to the Mexican Consulate for help with funeral expenses.

Barcia has been charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle four times in the past, twice in 2009 and twice in 2010, cops said.

Two NYPD cops escorted Barcia out of the 115th Precinct stationhouse to appear in court as friends of the grief-stricken family looked on Thursday morning. Barcia, clad in a worn hoodie and jacket, had his hood drawn up and his head down to shield him from the jeering crowd, cameras and reporters.

He shuffled toward the squad car and got in as cameras swarmed around him and a reporter thrust a microphone in his direction. The car sped off.

A Queens Criminal Court on Thursday granted supervised release to Barcia, whose defense lawyer described as “extremely regretful, remorseful.” Prosecutors had asked for $50,000 bail.

“There’s just no words really to explain what occurred,” Lourdes Cruz, a friend of the boys’ mother said in Spanish outside the precinct. “The family is distraught.”

A tear trickled down her cheek as she said Bayron’s death was totally avoidable.

“Because of carelessness and such, we lost a beautiful family,” Cruz said.

Another family friend, Evelyn Morles, 24, said she still can’t believe what happened. Morles lived in the same house as the victim for a while and would occasionally watch over him and his brother.

“Sometimes we would have to take care of them,” she said. “We’d play video games with them — typical kid stuff.”

Their favorites, Morles recalled, were “Fortnite” and “Mario Kart” — “the boys’ games,” Morles said with a grin.

“We saw these kids, played with them, and now their lives have basically changed forever,” she said. “One day you’re here, one day you’re not. And it’s a baby, so it’s something to really, really try to comprehend. It’s a whole life that was cut short.”

Bayron, a third grader at Public School 127, was in the crosswalk at 100th St. at 31st Ave. with his mother when he and his 10-year-old brother were struck around 4:15 p.m., NYPD Chief of Transportation Philip Rivera said Wednesday night.

The 52-year-old driver of a Nissan Titan truck was waiting to make a left turn onto 100th St. at a red light, according to occupants of the car just ahead of the truck.

When the light turned green, Barcia crossed over the double yellow line and around driver Joel Villacis, who was first in line at the light.

“The light turned green, [and] he wouldn’t wait,” said Villacis, 54. “He crossed over the yellow line, he turned and hit the people.”

Villacis’ passenger, Tito Ramirez, watched in horror as the crash unfolded.

“He just went over and hit the little boys,” said Ramirez, 69. “The mother was screaming. She went crazy. [Bayron] was on the ground with a lot of blood coming out of his head.”

Rivera said the driver made the turn much “too quickly.”

“I heard the lady screaming,” said Yazmin Ortiz, who lives on the corner. “The younger boy was lying down in the street. He was bleeding from his head, from both ears, all over the street.”

The 38-year-old witness, recognizing the family as neighbors on the block, said she sat the older brother down.

“[The older boy] had been hit and he was in shock,” Ortiz told the Daily News. “I told the mom, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK.'”

Ortiz cradled the older boy as his mother screamed, according to Ramirez.

“He was dead,” he said of the younger boy. “There was nothing we could do. I still remember his glasses lying in the street.”

Bayron died at the scene. His brother was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens with an injured wrist.

The driver, who lives in Flushing, stayed at the scene and was the first 911 caller, police said.

“Because of this poor decision, a family trying to enjoy a beautiful day will never be the same,” Rivera said.

Ortiz recalled watching the boys head to school.

“They were always happy,” she said. “They always said good morning. I’m in shock. My heart hurts for them.”

The intersection has not been the site of a crash in at least the past two years, Rivera noted.

“Any intersection can be dangerous when drivers are not paying attention and making turns too quickly,” the chief said.

The pickup truck is owned by Barcia Services, based in Durham, N.C., according to police. The driver is due back in court in June.

In putting Barcia on supervised release, the judge noted he had called 911 himself, saying, “Otherwise, this could have been a very different situation.”

The city’s Department of Transportation installed a traffic signal at this intersection in October 2020, officials said.

Last year, there were 101 pedestrian deaths citywide, down from 122 in 2022, according to the city Department of Transportation.

As of Wednesday, 23 pedestrians had been killed so far this year, up from 18 who were killed during the same period in 2023, according to city data.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives are trying to comfort Bayron’s grieving parents. Family friend Alejandra Mendez, 48, said the boy was very close to his mother in particular.

“The boy was always smiling and always telling his mother, I love you,” Mendez said.