A Queens driver was charged after an 8-year-old was killed in a crosswak
Jose Barcia was charged after prosecutors said he turned left in a pickup and hit two brothers at 31st Avenue and 100th Street at about 4:15 p.m. on March 13, 2024; the official record counts one pedestrian killed and one injured.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
At about 4:15 p.m. on March 13, 2024, Jose Barcia turned left in a pickup at 31st Avenue and 100th Street and hit two children crossing with their mother. QNS, reporting the charges, said surveillance video showed Barcia turn from westbound 31st Avenue onto southbound 100th Street when the light turned green, at unsafe speed and without yielding; it said the family had a walk signal. Streetsblog quoted the NYPD transportation chief describing the turn as a rushed attempt to beat oncoming traffic, while the New York Post reported that Barcia turned immediately as the light turned green. The official record counts one pedestrian killed and one injured. QNS later reported a grand jury indictment for criminally negligent homicide.
Reports describe the turn in different ways.
QNS, reporting the charges, said surveillance video showed Barcia stop at a red light while traveling west on 31st Avenue, then turn left onto southbound 100th Street when the light turned green. The report said he turned at an unsafe speed without yielding and that the family had a walk signal.
Streetsblog quoted NYPD Chief of Transportation Philip Rivera saying Barcia rushed the turn to beat oncoming traffic. The New York Post reported that Barcia turned immediately as the light turned green.
A two-way avenue used as a shortcut.
The crash happened at 31st Avenue and 100th Street in East Elmhurst, Queens. Streetsblog described two-way 31st Avenue as a shortcut between Astoria Boulevard and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Its report cited 74 crashes and 47 injuries on 31st Avenue in the prior year, compared with 31 crashes and 17 injuries along a roughly similar stretch of 34th Avenue, which has a mostly car-free section from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Two brothers were crossing with their mother.
QNS identified the child killed as 8-year-old Bayron Palomino Arroyo and reported that first responders pronounced him dead at the scene. His 10-year-old brother Bradley was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens with a wrist injury, bruising and head pain, QNS reported. The boys' 37-year-old mother was with them and narrowly avoided being hit, according to the New York Post and Patch.
Reports differ on the pickup's color.
The official crash record identifies a 2005 pickup truck and lists Nissan as its make. Patch and QNS identified Barcia's vehicle as a Nissan Titan. The New York Post described it as black, while QNS described it as gray.
Barcia was arraigned and later indicted.
QNS reported that Barcia was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on March 14 on charges including criminally negligent homicide. The outlet later reported that a Queens grand jury indicted him on April 18.