A 13-year-old boy who was struck and critically injured by a car fleeing police on Staten Island Thursday evening was fighting for his life Friday as his family gathered at his bedside. Wale Aliyu reports.
A 13-year-old boy who was struck and critically injured by a car fleeing police on Staten Island Thursday evening was fighting for his life Friday as his family gathered at his bedside.
Quadell Lovelace has a fractured ankle, bruised lungs and is on a ventilator at Richmond University Medical Center. The teen was struck by the car as he was crossing the street with his 11-year-old brother.
Lovelace’s mother, Lita Williams, says she knows 24-year-old Tyreek Wilson — the man police say hit her son with a car. Williams says she saw Wilson while at a nail salon minutes before the crash.
“The boy that struck him was on Castleton at the time arguing with his daughter’s mother,” Williams said. “As he was arguing, the police approached, and when he saw the cops, he took off running and jumped in his vehicle.”
Police say it was Wilson who jumped into a black Chrysler Concorde with officers giving chase. The officers had attempted to pull him over for a missing front license plate, according to police.
Wilson allegedly took a left at Henderson Avenue and Broadway as Lovelace and his younger brother were crossing the street, crashing into the young man before speeding off. Lovelace was sent flying by the impact.
“My 11-year-old was like, ‘Ma, the cops was chasing some guy and Quadell didn’t see them as fast as I did, so he didn’t have a chance to get out of the street,’” Williams said.
At some point Wilson lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a pole, police said. Video obtained exclusively by News 4 New York shows a man bolting from the Chrysler moments after it crashed.
Police were still searching for Wilson on Friday evening. Williams wants him to turn himself in.
“These kids are raised together,” Williams said, adding that Wilson’s mom used to watch her kids in the past. “Where is your conscious? You have a daughter.”
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Meanwhile, Williams and her family continue to hope Quadell will be able to breathe on his own soon. The sight of him in the hospital on a ventilator brings back painful memories of her 17-year-old son, who was shot and killed by a family friend just two years ago.
