10-year-old killed after driver loses control, mounts curb in Brooklyn
A 10-year-old boy who was getting ready to celebrate his birthday later this month was struck and killed Tuesday by a driver in Brooklyn who lost control of his SUV after suffering a possible seizure, police sources said.
An 8-year-old girl who was inside the vehicle was also injured, along with the driver — Alexander Katchaloft, 60 — and transported to Kings County Hospital, sources said.
The accident happened in front of a bus stop in Midwood — outside of 1673 Ocean Ave. — just before 3 p.m., according to cops.
The driver was traveling in a Lexus SUV northbound on Ocean Avenue when it suddenly veered to the right and careened into some scaffolding. The vehicle struck the boy — identified as Enzo Farachio — in the process, cops said.
“It was very bad,” said Elk Krausz, owner of WiFi Construction, the company that put up the scaffolding.
“I saw blood … walked off … Wasn’t able to look at it,” he told The Post. “Damaged scaffolding is nothing. A family lost a child is worse than anything.”
No arrests were immediately made Tuesday after the accident. Sources said police believe the driver suffered a possible seizure before the crash. An investigation is ongoing.
“We’re being told that it was a potential medical situation,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. “As you’re aware we’ve had two prior cases since I’ve been the DA where someone had a medical episode, and we’re going to be looking into whether or not in fact that was the case, and whether or not the person should be behind the wheel.”
Gonzalez added, “My heart goes out to the family [of the victim].”
“We will do our best to thoroughly investigate this,” he told reporters. “Everyone has to be very careful in our city. We’ve had a rash of pedestrians and bicyclists killed this year. Everyone just needs to slow down, pay attention.”
The incident comes just days after an NYPD cruiser slammed into the front of a Brooklyn health food store — hitting two women — after being nailed by another vehicle. Several other people have been struck by vehicles while walking or riding a bike.
“We’re gonna look at this and see what happened here,” Gonzalez said Tuesday night. “We’re at the hospital now trying to figure it out.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Chris Perez