East Harlem hit-and-run suspect wanted as 6-year-old boy fights for life after weekend crash
NEW YORK -- A 6-year-old boy is fighting for his life Monday after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver over the weekend in East Harlem.
The child's mother, Nereida Diaz Marin, tells CBS2 6-year-old Henry is still in critical condition but is doing a little bit better.
Around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the little boy was playing with his family at Thomas Jefferson Park when witnesses say someone on a moped ran over him on the sidewalk.
"I just saw my son on the floor, not moving, and him just stood there with the motorcycle in his hand, that's all," Diaz Marin said.
"Didn't say sorry? Didn't say, 'Can I help?'" CBS2's Jessica Moore asked.
"No, nothing," Diaz Marin said. "He just stood there. He just stood there, just watching. He was just, like, there. And he didn't say anything at all. He didn't say sorry for the accident or sorry for jumping into your son, nothing. And then when he heard the ambulance and the police was on the way, he left."
We're told the boy suffered severe head trauma.
"My husband was trying to wake him up because he wasn't awake. He was unconscious. His eyes was white. I don't know. For that moment, I thought that I lost my son," Diaz Marin said.
Paramedics rushed Henry to Harlem Hospital in critical condition, where doctors found bleeding on his brain and two skull fractures.
"Honestly, I'm scared because he has autism. I'm scared that the damage of his head or brain might have consequences ... If he has autism and he has consequences, it might get worse," Diaz Marin said.
Henry has since been transferred to Columbia Presbyterian, where his family is taking shifts at his bedside.
"What I saw today in the morning before I got home, he was getting a little better. The swelling is coming down already, but they're going to still have him in the hospital," Diaz Marin said.
Watch Elijah Westbrook's report
Henry's mother has a message for the man who turned their world upside down.
"I just want him to contact the police and explain everything or at least ask how my son is. It's, I don't know. It's horrible," Diaz Marin said. "I want him to do the right thing."
Investigators believe the suspect headed northbound in the park toward 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue.
The NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the crash.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
