A 20-year-old driver was arrested in the heartless hit-and-run death of a 7-year-old Brooklyn boy who was riding his scooter across a street, police said yesterday.
Jean Vargas of Queens, was charged with leaving the scene of the accident hours after he allegedly mowed down Christian Acteopan in front of the youngster’s horrified brother and mother on Sunday.
Christian was returning home from playing in a schoolyard with his 8-year-old brother, Edgar, and his mom, Margarita, when he was struck at Bleecker Street near Central Avenue in Bushwick, police said.
Edgar, who was also on his scooter, managed to get out of the way in time.
The driver of the speeding car tore away, and then another motorist, unable to see the boy lying in the street, ran over him.
That driver, Michael Castro, 20, of Pennsylvania, remained at the scene and was not charged.
A cop spotted Vargas hopping out of a damaged Mitsubishi Eclipse shortly after the accident, several blocks away.
Christian’s victim’s mother said of the arrest, “They can’t bring him back to me. I want them to bring back my Christian.”
The devastated mother added that Edgar “keeps asking for Christian. He thinks he’s coming back.”