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Bellerose boy struck by car clings to life

Bellerose boy struck by car clings to life
By Howard Koplowitz

An 10-year-old Bellerose boy riding his bicycle down Hillside Avenue was critically injured Monday when a car struck him at the Little Neck Parkway intersection, police said.

The red and black bike and the boy's sandals were laid out in the intersection as officers were determining whether any criminality was involved.

The driver of a red Mercedes-Benz, whose name was not immediately released, remained at the scene.

She had a green light when the boy darted into the street on his bicycle and her car hit him, police said.

While police did not give out the boy's name, he was identified by neighbors as Osama, who lived on 250th Street between Hillside and 84th avenues.

He remained in critical condition Tuesday at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

“I saw the kid. He was on the floor bleeding and his shoes went flying,” said neighbor Ruben Gonzalez. “He didn't look good.”

Gonzalez said the intersection is dangerous because one light turns green when the other is still yellow.

“The lights start changing too fast. At 11 o'clock, it's like a freeway. This is a sucky intersection. It's terrible.”

The boy's mother was home at the time of the accident.

“The mother went shrieking down the block, screaming” and ran to the scene, said Ed Prioli. “Like an injured animal, that's how she sounded.”

Neighbors said the boy could always be seen riding his bicycle and Gonzalez said the boy had just gotten the bike involved in the accident the day before.

Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.