An 11-year-old boy was fatally struck by a car while crossing the Grand Concourse on his way to buy milk for his family, and a crossing guard was questioned after the accident. Russell Smith was hit on Grand Concourse around East 183rd Street by a Honda. "The crossing guard was out there," mother Monique Mitchell said. "I don't know what she was doing."
Witnesses say that Smith was crossing against a red light, and driver Josephine Oviawe's daughter said, “It was a green light and the child just ran into the car and hit the side mirror. The car had the light.” Oviawe stayed on the scene, was questioned by police and let go, and police say no criminality is suspected. (What about Hayley and Diego's Law?) His mother was devastated, and told NY1, "I don't know how my kids are going to take it. He's got a six-year-old brother that's destroyed right now, and I'm trying to be strong for the rest of them. Oh god, this is so terrible."
The crossing guard wouldn't say where she was that the time of the accident, but one neighbor said the street is too big for one guard to monitor. He told CBS2, “All I’m saying is that she can’t be at four corners. This always happens at this corner. She can’t be at four corners.”
