Bay Ridge

Teen seriously injured by hit-run driver on Bay Ridge street

February 19, 2013 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Police are looking for a driver who struck and seriously injured a 15-year-old boy on a Bay Ridge street corner and then fled the scene.

The victim was crossing the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 78th Street at 8:05 p.m. on Feb. 16 when he was hit by a 2002 Audi. The driver did not stop, police said.

A short time after the accident, the Audi was discovered abandoned on 93rd Street near Fourth Avenue, police said. “The person left the car in the street. The car had front end damage,” a New York Police Department spokeswoman said.

The car was traced to a Staten Island woman, according to a source familiar with the investigation. The woman, who questioned by police, was not driving the car at the time of the accident, the source said.

The victim was crossing with a green light when he was struck by the car, the NYPD spokeswoman said.

The teen’s name was not released by police, but various media reports identified him as Matthew Garry, a sophomore at Xaverian High School. Garry is a member of the Xaverian football team, according to reports.

The victim suffered a broken pelvis and a broken leg and arm. He was rushed to Lutheran Medical Center immediately after the accident and was later transferred to a hospital on Long Island. “His injuries are not life-threatening,” the NYPD spokeswoman said.

Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights) urged his Facebook followers who might have witnessed the incident to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

“Cops were canvassing the area near the accident for surveillance video,” Gentile wrote on his Facebook page. 

State Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-southern Brooklyn) recently introduced a bill to increase the criminal penalties against hit-run drivers. The state senate passed the proposed legislation last week. 

Golden’s bill would increase the criminal penalties against motorists for leaving the scene of an accident that results in a victim’s death, serious injury, or property damage. It would mean more jail time for drivers who are caught after they flee the scene, Golden said. The minimum sentence would be seven years behind bars.

There are too many hit-run incidents and something has to be done, Golden said. “Just last week, a hit and run accident in Manhattan took the life of a senior citizen. Two times in December we saw young women lose their lives at the hands of a motorist, in the Bronx and in Queens. And in November, a jogger was struck and killed in Brooklyn,” he said.

“It is time to get serious about making sure that reckless drivers, who take innocent lives and destroy families, face the strictest penalties,” Golden said. 

The bill has been sent to the state assembly for consideration. Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay) is the assembly sponsor of the bill.

 

 

 

 

 

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