Parris was killed while crossing Rockaway Parkway midblock to reach Canarsie High School, just before 8:00 a.m. Monday morning -- the start of the school day. The Post reported that Parris's friend, Akili Charles, was crossing with her and saw the motorist, Mohamed Diakite, drive past a school bus and ignore the stop sign:
The distraught pal said a passing school-bus driver had spotted the girls trying to cross the street, and put out its stop sign to help them make it safely to the other side, but the BMW "kept going."
After striking Parris, Diakite then smashed into a car parked by the curb:
The Daily News reported the next day that police had determined that speed was not a factor, and that Diakite passed the school bus on the right. The police sources in the story did not say the bus had come to a stop:
The 13-year-old from Brownsville crossed in front of a school bus that was driving in the left southbound lane, cops said. Diakite, driving in the right southbound lane, couldn't see the girl until it was too late.
If the driver did disobey a bus's stop sign in front of a school zone and was exceeding the speed limit, criminal negligence would seem to be an option for law enforcement to pursue. Another option for police and prosecutors would be to file a charge of careless driving using the newly enacted Hayley and Diego's law. Under the law, drivers who injure pedestrians or cyclists while failing to exercise due care are subject to mandatory drivers’ ed, and could be sentenced to fines of up to $750, jail time of up to 15 days, and a license suspension of up to six months.
Does killing a student crossing in front of a school bus right in front of a high school constitute a failure to exercise due care?
The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes gave no indication that prosecutors will press charges either. "There have been no allegations of criminality," a spokesperson told Streetsblog.
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Sixty people died in the first three months of the year, 50 percent more than the first quarter of 2018, which was the safest opening three months of any Vision Zero year.