A 41-year-old man, who was driving a crash-damaged car, was caught in Brooklyn not far from the lifeless body of a teenager lying in the street. The driver, picked up along Avenue I at 55th Street, was reportedly trying to flee from a fatal pedestrian accident.

A 14-year-old boy was hit by a motor vehicle about 7:30 p.m. last Wednesday as he crossed Flatlands Avenue between East 54th and 55th streets. Accident observers saw a red van with a broken headlight and inflated air bag speed away from the crash.

Police arrested the driver of the van and charged the suspect with the deadly hit-and run accident.

The Brooklyn boy visited a bodega and walked to a relative's apartment just before the Wednesday evening tragedy. Family members of the accident victim say the teenager was running an errand for his mother. The teen's aunt described her nephew as a "very respectable boy" and was shocked that the driver who hit him "could leave a dying child in the street."

A nurse apparently tried to administer aid to the boy as he lay in the street, but the help appeared to come too late. The teen was not breathing.

Initial charges against the driver of the van include leaving the scene of a serious-injury accident and the aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle. Law enforcement officials stated that more charges related to the fatal pedestrian accident are pending.

The boy's family members are hoping justice is served. His aunt added, "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Source: WABC-TV, "Arrest in hit and run that killed Brooklyn teen," Carolina Leid, Jan. 6, 2012