Family Mourns Girl, 9, Who Died in Brooklyn Car Crash

The accident involved three cars in Canarsie, officials said

A driver allegedly fleeing the scene of a minor traffic accident has been accused of slamming into two cars in Brooklyn Sunday, killing a 9-year-old girl and injuring five others, law enforcement sources say.

The driver was headed south in a Honda minivan on Remsen Avenue in Canarsie when he allegedly plowed into a Toyota van and a Hyundai sedan, police say.

The collision peeled the roof off the Hyundai, pinning the girl and the car's other passengers inside. The girl, Rebecca Ramnarine, was cut free and taken to Brookdale Hospital. She was pronounced dead there.

"I don't know why this happened," said Abiola Ramnarine, the girl's mother, at a prayer service Monday night where more than 100 people came to lend support to the family. 

"My last memory is her being pulled out of that wreck," she said. 

Two other passengers in Ramnarine's vehicle were also taken to the hospital, along with three others in the Toyota. All of those victims are in stable condition.

"It's so terrible you want to cry," said one witness.

The minivan was allegedly involved in another minor wreck at Foster Avenue and East 87th Street moments before the one at Remsen Avenue, sources say. Police tried to stop the car, but the driver sped off. Police didn't pursue the vehicle.

The 62-year-old minivan driver, identified as Kenneth Palache of Huntington, was later arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident.

"I don't hate the man that did it," said Abiola Ramnarine. 

Rebecca was described as vivacious and outspoken, a girl of faith who loved dance and math, and wanted to be a pediatrician. 

"This is overwhelming," said the girl's father. "Words cannot describe how we feel." 

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