After a father and son were struck crossing the street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, this morning by a driver who appeared to run a red light, the NYPD reportedly told Gothamist no charges had been filed.
“With everything going on with packages and bombs, we’re not going further into this because no one was likely to die or seriously injured,” a police spokesperson reportedly said.
The 47-year-old father and 11-year-old son, shown on video being hit by the vehicle, were reportedly taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
SHOCKING VIDEO: father and son struck by vehicle in Brooklyn at Crown Street and Brooklyn Avenue, both are in hospital in stable condition. pic.twitter.com/t9198MUr4S
— New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) October 25, 2018
A police spokesperson confirmed in an email that the driver wasn’t charged in the matter but didn’t address questions about the statement to Gothamist or whether the investigation was impacted by the ongoing mail bomb probe.
“There was no criminality,” the spokesperson wrote. “That is why no one is being charged.”
The NYPD has been criticized in the past for failing to devote resources to investigating vehicle crashes, even those with serious injuries. In this case, it seems likely that the bomb investigation has no bearing on charges in a traffic case, meaning the statement to Gothamist was likely just a poor choice of words by an NYPD spokesperson.
At the same time, it’s hard to watch the graphic video footage above and determine that no one was at fault.
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