A 10-year-old girl was killed on Tuesday after she was struck by a vehicle in Brooklyn, police said.
The NYPD said the girl was hit near the intersection of Wallabout Street and Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg around 2:42 p.m. The girl was taken to a nearby hospital and the 61-year-old driver remained at the scene, authorities said.
City Councilmember Lincoln Restler posted about the child’s death on social media, adding, “My heart breaks for her family and loved ones.”
“This is four blocks south from where Sarah Pitts was killed in September 2020,” Restler added, pointing to a 2020 incident in which a senior prosecutor with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office was killed while biking through South Williamsburg. “We need real street safety interventions and we need them now.”
An investigation remains ongoing, police said.
Traffic safety advocates Transportation Alternatives issued a statement Tuesday night calling on the state Legislature to pass Sammy’s Law as part of its final budget negotiations, which would give the city control over setting speed limits on its streets.
“Every crash is preventable, and we need every tool to make our streets safe for everyone, especially the youngest New Yorkers,” Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said in the statement. “One critical tool is the ability to control our own speed limits. Unfortunately, the Assembly has so far refused to pass Sammy’s Law, legislation that would allow us to set slower, safer speed limits on neighborhood streets.”
Phil Corso contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with comment from Transportation Alternatives.