Driver charged after 10-year-old dies in Williamsburg crosswalk
A driver making a left turn at Wallabout Street and Franklin Avenue failed to yield as 10-year-old Yitty Wertzberger crossed with the signal, and police later charged Isaac Karczag, Brooklyn Paper reported.
What We Know
According to the police report, a male driver in a 2022 Buick SUV turned left on Wallabout Street near Franklin Avenue around 2:33 p.m. and hit a 10-year-old girl in the crosswalk. The report states the child was crossing with the signal. Police recorded Failure to Yield Right-of-Way and driver inattention/distraction as contributing factors. The girl sustained crush injuries to her entire body and was killed.
A left turn as a child crossed with the signal
The city crash record says a driver in a 2022 Buick SUV was traveling south and making a left turn at Wallabout Street and Franklin Avenue when 10-year-old Yitty Wertzberger was crossing with the signal at the intersection. The record identifies failure to yield right of way as a contributing factor.
Brooklyn Paper, citing police, reported that Isaac Karczag, 62, made a left turn against the light from Wallabout Street onto Franklin Avenue, swerved into oncoming traffic and hit Wertzberger in the crosswalk. The official record places the crash at 2:33 p.m.; Brooklyn Paper reported it happened at about 2:45 p.m.
Records and police accounts point to yielding and signal violations
The city crash record attributes the crash to failure to yield right of way, and the vehicle record also lists driver inattention or distraction. Brooklyn Paper reported that police alleged Karczag turned left against the light and later charged him with failure to obey a traffic device.
Wallabout Street and Franklin Avenue sit on a high-crash corridor
The crash happened at Wallabout Street and Franklin Avenue in Williamsburg. CrashCountNYC location records for Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn show 745 crashes, 422 injuries, 22 serious injuries and 3 deaths since 2022.