A 4-year-old boy was fatally struck running from his mother in the street outside a Brooklyn hospital Thursday by a driver who failed to remain at the scene, police said.
The child had just broken away from his mother, who was chasing after him when he was hit by the driver of a Ford SUV on Rockaway Parkway near Linden Blvd. in East Flatbush around 11:10 a.m., cops said.
The driver kept going and has not been caught.
The child’s panicked mother grabbed him and rushed him into Brookdale University Hospital, a taxi driver who witnessed the collision told the Daily News.
“He was lying there, bleeding all around. He was slumped on the ground,” the 70-year-old cabbie, who gave his name as Jules, told the Daily News. “His mother grabbed him and lifted him up. She was screaming. He was gone, so young. I never saw anything like it.”
The boy died at the hospital just steps away from where he was struck, cops said.
Multiple staff members at the medical center said that the boy and his mom had just left the Brookdale Urgent Care Center, located on the other side of Rockaway Parkway from the main hospital, moments before he was struck.
Witnesses told police the child was running across the parkway heading east when he was hit.
“I heard a lot of people coming in, being distraught about the situation,” said 56-year-old Eric Lopez, a patient at Brookdale University Hospital. “I saw one person who was crying. Everybody seemed sad.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if the driver realized somebody had been struck, officials said.
Cops were scouring the area for surveillance footage so they could track down the SUV.
With Rocco Parascandola
