Police arrested Mitchell Maldonado after a fatal Coney Island hit-and-run.
The Oldest of Eight
Police say Mitchell Maldonado, driving a red pickup, hit Tamika Richards and her 18-year-old son, Rayquan Parker, and drove west from Mermaid Avenue and West 24th Street in Brooklyn on March 3, 2023; the official record logs one pedestrian killed and one injured at 8:49 p.m.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Police say Mitchell Maldonado, driving a red pickup, hit Tamika Richards, 41, and her son, 18-year-old Rayquan Parker, at Mermaid Avenue and West 24th Street on March 3, 2023, then drove west. Family friend Zemaya Williams said Parker remembered Richards moving in front of him and calling for the driver to stop. Maldonado was arrested in November 2024 and faced charges including leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
A driver left after hitting two pedestrians.
Police said a driver in a red pickup hit Tamika Richards and her son, 18-year-old Rayquan Parker, at the intersection, then continued west on Mermaid Avenue. The official record counts one pedestrian killed and one injured.
Family friend Zemaya Williams told the Daily News that Parker remembered Richards positioning herself in front of him and calling for the driver to stop.
The signal sequence is not fully clear.
The official crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor and records Richards as crossing with the signal. The Daily News reported that Parker told loved ones the driver ran a red light; Williams separately relayed that Parker remembered a red light. The record does not state what signal faced the driver.
The intersection was close to Richards' home.
The official record places the crash at Mermaid Avenue and West 24th Street in Brooklyn at 8:49 p.m. on March 3, 2023. News reports located it in Coney Island.
Reports differed about which street Richards and Parker were crossing: the New York Post and Daily News said Mermaid Avenue, while CBS News and ABC's initial report said West 24th Street. The Daily News reported that they were a couple of blocks from home, buying drinks before a visit from Richards' brother.
Records and reports describe a pickup.
The official record lists a 2016 Chevrolet pickup traveling west and going straight before the crash. News reports described the pickup as red; the 2024 Daily News report linked it to Maldonado.
Richards' family described a life centered on children.
Richards was a mother of six, the oldest of eight siblings and a grandmother to a six-month-old grandson, Amsterdam News reported. Her sister, Shaquana Folks, worked as the publication's Legal and Classified Advertising consultant. The family established a fundraiser to support Richards' children and pay funeral costs.
Parker was Richards' 18-year-old son and a senior at John Dewey High School at the time of the crash. The Daily News later reported that he suffered serious pelvic injuries, underwent surgery and went to a rehabilitation center.
An arrest came about 20 months later.
The Daily News reported that police arrested Mitchell Maldonado, 33, of Burlington, Vermont, in November 2024. He faced charges including leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
Richards' oldest son, Mart Richards, 21, told the Daily News he had just learned of the arrest: "I just found out." He also described the family's reaction: "[We] were ecstatic. But it was also… it was like an exhale."