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SUV driver who fatally struck 4-year-old Luz Gonzalez outside a Brooklyn laundromat is “broken,” unsure of what happened and hopes to speak with the little girl’s devastated family.Police have not charged Maria with a crime for running over the little girl and injuring her 39-year-old mother Reyna Candia, who was bending down and tying the child’s shoe outside Bushwick’s Heaven Scent Laundry when the accident happened.
According to police, Maria, who left the scene, was unaware she’d hit anyone.Candia said on Monday that the driver “had to know” what happened when she pulled away and was questioned by police later.
“I want her to pay,” Candia said. “The person who did this, she has to pay.”
On Wednesday, more than 200 neighborhood residents marched to Bushwick’s 83rd precinct demanding justice.Video shows Luz Gonzales riding a scooter alongside her mother near Wyckoff Avenue and Hart Street in Bushwick.
Police say the girl's shoe got caught on the scooter and fell off.
As the pair went back to get it, police say a 38-year-old woman backed her SUV out of a nearby parking space and ran them over.Some residents said they plan to gather every day at 5 p.m. for the next nine days in front of the laundromat where the accident happened, then march to the precinct to pray.
Gonzalez’s family is making arrangements to have the child buried in their native state of Guerrero, Mexico.The little girl’s grieving mother thanked everyone who came to show support, but was too choked up to speak at length. Gonzalez’s father struggled to control his emotions as well.
“I cannot speak because my soul hurts,” he said in Spanish.
