Queens driver indicted in collision that killed boy crossing street: DA
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Editor’s note: The story in the video player originally aired on March 14.
EAST ELMHURST, Queens (PIX11) – A driver who allegedly hit and killed an 8-year-old boy crossing the street with his mother and brother in Queens in March was indicted in the case Monday, authorities said.
Jose Barcia, 52, of Flushing, is accused of killing 8-year-old Bayron Palomino in East Elmhurst on March 13, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
The 8-year-old boy was hit and killed when a pickup truck sped through a crosswalk while making a left turn at the intersection of 31st Avenue and 100th Street, according to authorities.
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Bayron died at the scene. His 10-year-old brother suffered a wrist injury, authorities said.
“Both victims in this case, the boy who died and his brother, were with their mother crossing the street with the light in their favor in broad daylight. This tragedy was completely preventable, if not for the alleged recklessness of the defendant,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
Barcia was previously charged in a criminal complaint with criminally negligent homicide, failing to yield to oncoming traffic while making a left turn, disobeying speed restrictions, two counts of failing to provide the right of way to pedestrians, and two counts of failing to exercise due care, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Barcia will be arraigned on the indictment on May 2.
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“Obeying road safety regulations is not a choice. It is the law,” Katz said. “And more than that, it is a personal obligation to safeguard everyone we encounter on our shared roadways.”
Advocates for pedestrian safety spoke out in the wake of Bayron’s death, arguing that more needs to be done to improve safety.
On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed off on a portion of the state budget that includes Sammy’s Law, which allows New York City to lower its speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph.
The bill is named after 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed in Brooklyn by a speeding car while trying to grab a soccer ball in the street in 2013. More than 100 other children have since been killed in traffic collisions in New York City, according to city crash data.
“He was killed in front of our apartment building. We have a crisis on our roads. Nearly every single day in New York City, someone like my son is killed,” said Amy Cohen, Sammy’s mother and the co-founder of Families for Safe Streets.
The law would not apply to streets with three or more lanes in one direction.
Finn Hoogensen is a digital journalist who has covered local news for more than five years. He has been with PIX11 News since 2022. See more of his work here.
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