BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — Taqunda Hughes was right there when her 7-year-old son Kamari took his last breath. What she witnessed haunts her.
“He got hit first, knocked down off the scooter. And then the two tires ran over him,” Hughes said. “I had to see him be killed … When I got to him there was no pulse. My baby was gone.”
Kamari was riding a scooter when he was hit and killed by an NYPD tow truck in the crosswalk at Myrtle and North Portland avenues in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Oct. 26, police said.
Kamari was a loving second-grader filled with energy. In her first sit-down interview less than a week after her son’s death, Hughes described her son as a special child.
“He’s just this ball of energy that can barely be contained,” Hughes said.
Hughes is now planning Kamari’s funeral. She started a GoFundMe page to receive support.
The New York City mayor’s office and other politicians are helping, but no amount of help can bring her son back.
“He was my rock,” Hughes said. “My baby means the world to me. I would give anything and everything to just get him back.”
Police identified the driver of the NYPD tow truck as 54-year-old Stephanie Sharp. She is not an officer but instead one of the thousands of unionized civilians employed by the NYPD.
Sharp was arrested and now faces two criminal charges: failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
“This woman took my child,” Hughes said. “And ironically enough, she’s here.”
