Street Safety Group Calls for Lower Speed Limit After Brownsville Hit-and-Run

by Ethan Stark-Miller, amNY

Safe streets advocates called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s administration to lower the speed limit on a Brooklyn thoroughfare after a 4-year-old boy was killed by an SUV driver in a hit-and-run collision.

The advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, in a Thursday evening statement, said that following the incident, Mamdani’s Department of Transportation (DOT) should use its legal authority to lower the speed limit where the March 5 crash took place, on Rockaway Parkway near Linden Boulevard in Brownsville.

The organization said the DOT should cut the speed limit on the corridor from 25 to 20 miles per hour, a power granted to the city under state legislation known as “Sammy’s Law,” passed in 2024.

A speed camera at the intersection of Rockaway Parkway and Linden Boulevard caught 3,600 people speeding last year, the group said, averaging almost 10 drivers a day.

“We are devastated to learn that a driver hit and killed a 4-year-old boy this morning in Brooklyn,” said Ben Furnas, Transportation Alternatives’ executive director, in a statement.

“This is every parent’s nightmare and it was wholly preventable,” he continued. “Our thoughts are with their family. We must build a New York City that’s safe for children — and that means finally implementing Sammy’s Law to ensure drivers are moving at a safe 20 mph.”

The crash took place on Thursday morning when the child bolted away from his parents into a mid-block crosswalk across Rockaway Parkway just north of Linden Boulevard, according to police. The boy, whom police identified as area resident Zachariah Padilla, was then mowed down by the driver of a white Ford Explorer SUV, who was heading northbound on Rockaway Parkway on a green light at the time.

The unidentified driver fled the scene after failing to stop.

The boy’s parents rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, right next to the site of the crash, where he died from his injuries.

Police have not made an arrest and are still searching for the SUV driver.

The advocacy group noted that the DOT has not lowered the speed limit on Rockaway Parkway, even though it has the power to do so and considers the road a priority corridor for Vision Zero, the city’s long-running plan to reduce traffic deaths and injuries.

The advocates also pointed out that former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration reduced speeds on just 2 percent of eligible streets. Furnas said Mamdani has the opportunity to change that.

“As the mayor settles into City Hall, he has an incredible opportunity to reshape and redesign New York City,” he said. “We look forward to his forthcoming Vision Zero plan, and expect his team to correct his predecessor’s mistakes and finally widely implement Sammy’s Law across New York City. Every parent should feel safe walking on the street with their child, but they can’t until our streets are safe.”

In a statement DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone said: “No loss of life on our streets is acceptable and no family should go through such unimaginable pain. Our thoughts are with Zachariah and his loved ones, and we are reviewing the crash.”

Barone added that DOT is reviewing the crash to determine if the speed at which the SUV driver hit Padilla led to his death. He said the agency would continue expanding Sammy’s Law, but did not specify by how much or if Rockaway Parkway would get a lower speed limit.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in amNY. Click here to see the original story.

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