4-Year Old Boy Killed by Van Outside of Bklyn Yeshiva; 5-Year Old in Critical Condition

By: TJVNews.com

In a devastating tragedy in Brooklyn it was reported on Monday that at 9:15 am, the NYPD said a driver of a van hit 4-year-old Yoshi Balaban and 5-year-old Yosef Berenbaum outside of Yeshiva Ketana of Bensonhurst on 67th Street between 20th & 21st Avenues. Both boys are from Staten Island. They had just been dropped off when a van struck them and then sped off.

Tragically, Balaban died of his injuries and Berenbaum was transported to Maimonides Hospital in Borough Park where he remains in critical condition.

The funeral for the 4-year-old Yoshi Balaban was held on Monday night.

The NYC streetsblog web site reported that a police spokesperson said that the driver of the van later returned, and that the crash remains under investigation. An NYPD spokesperson later said that the driver was not arrested, but that charges against him were pending.

The report also indicated that there are two schools in the area of the hit-and-run. The entrance to P.S. 205 Clarion School is on 20th Avenue between 67th and 68th streets, and Yeshiva Ketana of Bensonhurst is in the middle of the block. Between 2018 and 2020, there were 39 crashes on the blocks surrounding the schools, that injured six pedestrians, two cyclists and two motorists.

Streetsblog.org also reported that Mitch Schwartz, a spokesperson from Mayor DeBlasio’s office said, “the mayor’s office has been in touch with this family’s faith leaders, and we’ll continue doing everything to can to support them through this unthinkable tragedy. We mourn with the victim’s family together as a city, and we wish them peace and strength.”

City Council Member Mark Treyger, who represents the district where the crash took place, also drew a connection to last year’s rise in traffic deaths, according to the Streetsblog.org web site.

“This senseless death is sadly not unique in our city, and comes on the heels of one of the deadliest years of traffic violence in recent memory,” said Treyger. “I have been in contact with the 62nd Precinct and with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office to learn more about the details of the crash, and try to understand what measures could have been taken to prevent this tragedy and others like it from occurring. My thoughts are with the families of the children and this school community.”

Also speaking to the NYC streetblog.org web site was Danny Harris, the Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. He said that, “four days into 2021 and drivers have killed four New Yorkers on our streets, including one child. Three are dead in fatal hit-and-run crashes. Two children are injured. Traffic fatalities rose last year, and this deadly trend seems to only be getting worse as Mayor de Blasio enters his final year in office.”