A driver was arrested after the crash that killed Kianna Underwood.
My Baby
Police say driver Michael Griffiths crossed the double yellow line and struck Kianna Underwood before a second driver hit her; the official record lists one pedestrian killed at 6:43 a.m. Jan. 16, 2026, at Pitkin Avenue and Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brooklyn.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Police say Griffiths drove a black 2021 Ford Explorer west on Pitkin Avenue and crossed the double yellow line to pass a vehicle whose driver was starting a right turn, striking Underwood in the marked crosswalk. A second driver in a black-and-gray sedan then hit her as she lay in the roadway. Reports differ on which vehicle dragged her: CBS New York described video showing her body roll from beneath the Ford after she appeared to be dragged nearly two blocks, while the Daily News and News 12 attributed the two-block dragging to the sedan. Police later arrested Griffiths and charged him with leaving the scene.
Police describe two successive impacts
News 12 reported that police say Griffiths was driving west in a black 2021 Ford Explorer and crossed the double yellow line to pass a vehicle whose driver was starting a right turn onto Mother Gaston Boulevard. The account says he struck Underwood in the marked crosswalk; a driver in a black-and-gray sedan then hit her as she lay in the roadway.
Reports differ on which vehicle dragged Underwood. CBS New York described video showing her body roll from beneath the Ford after she appeared to be dragged nearly two blocks. The Daily News and News 12 attributed the two-block dragging to the sedan.
The crash occurred at a Brownsville intersection
The official record places the crash at Pitkin Avenue and Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brooklyn at 6:43 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2026. News 12 identifies the neighborhood as Brownsville and reported that Underwood was found at Pitkin Avenue and Osborn Street.
Underwood had a screen and stage career
Underwood, 33, was born in New York City. The Daily News reported that her credits included seven episodes of Nickelodeon's All That, voice work on Little Bill, the film The 24 Hour Woman and the national tour of Hairspray as Little Inez.
Andy Sierra, a nearby store supervisor, told CBS New York that he had bought Underwood food and given her clothes and sneakers. “I gave her some clothes and some sneakers last Saturday,” he said.
Griffiths disputed accounts that both drivers left
In a Jan. 21 interview with the Daily News, Griffiths said he had been driving the Explorer, pulled over after the collision and tried to flag down the second motorist. News 12 later reported that police said both vehicles did not remain at the scene.
News 12 reported on Sept. 29, 2026, that police arrested Griffiths and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident with injury-prior.