Driver charged with killing 8-year-old boy at Queens crosswalk has history of reckless driving
NEW YORK -- There were candles, prayers and a plea for justice on Thursday night in Elmhurst, Queens.
Dozens of people gathered to remember an 8-year-old boy who was hit and killed on Wednesday. The pain of losing a child was visible for the child's family.
It was emotional for loved ones who gathered four hours to honor the little boy who was just weeks away from turning 9.
His mother, who was with him when he died, was inconsolable.
She was in agony as she collapsed to the ground and called out for her son, Bayron Palomino Arroyo, at the same place she was walking with him when he was struck and killed.
Friends and family gathered in song and prayer at the vigil, which had a growing memorial that included soccer ball for the game he loved to play with his 10-year-old brother, Bradley.
"He was happy and cheerful," the brother said.
Bradley was also hurt when police say a driver in a pickup truck was turning at the intersection of 31st Avenue and 100th Street and struck the boys, who were in the crosswalk with their mother.
"This is what I want to see is justice and not release him," the mother said in Spanish.
She wants to see 52-year-old Jose Barcia held accountable. He's charged with criminally negligent homicide, failing to provide the right of way to pedestrians, and more.
According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, surveillance video shows he turned "at an unsafe speed without yielding to oncoming traffic."
Police said Barcia has a history of reckless driving, which includes four prior arrests in 2009 and 2010. Each time, he was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Law enforcement officials said he currently has a valid driver's license and a field sobriety test determined he was not intoxicated.
Close friends just want to be there for the family. Even strangers showed up in support.
"They cry all day," Edgar Perez said.
"It's tragic. You never want to bury your child and here this mom is gonna have to do the hardest task in her life and put her son to rest," said Gloria Contrares of Jackson Heights.
The driver faces up to four years in prison in convicted. He's due back in court in June.
