A school crossing guard responsible for a busy Harlem intersection lied to her supervisor in a call about being at the location at 7:30 a.m. yesterday — and hadn’t showed up by the time a 6-year-old boy she should have been helping was fatally mowed down by a big rig truck less than 25 minutes later, police revealed today.
Flavia Roman, 55, had called her supervisor to report her presence at First Avenue and East 117th Street near PS 155 yesterday morning, as required by protocol for all crossing guards beginning their shifts, said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“She did call in, she called in to the youth officer and said she was on post at 07:30,” Kelly told reporters.
But Roman was not actually there, Kelly said, without elaborating on how police determined that.
And when little Amar Diarrassouba walked past her post at 7:54 a.m., Roman still wasn’t there, Kelly said.
And that’s when Amar was run over by the back tire of a tractor-trailer at the intersection.
Roman, who lives a half-block away on East 117th Street, then showed up at the scene claiming she had run home for a bathroom break. A Post photo taken at 8:20 a.m. showed her in uniform talking to investigators.
She later told authorities, including the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, that she abandoned her post for an “emergency” without getting permission.
But The Post first revealed today, citing police sources, that Roman never showed up at her post until after Amar was struck and killed
However, the NYPD officially is not stating, for now, that Roman was never at her post at any point.
“It’s under investigation,” Kelly said.
“What we are saying is that she was not on post when the accident happened, which was [7:54 a.m.],” Kelly said. “That’s all we can say at this time.”
“If you want to take a break . . .we have patrol supervisors that supervise the individual. If you have to leave you should call back in and say you are leaving,” Kelly said. “If possible a radio car may be or a police officer may be dispatched there, but probably unlikely. At the very least you should notify the command if you are not going to be on your post.”
Roman was slapped with a 30-day unpaid suspension for being AWOL and for lying about her presence at the scene. The DA is still considering criminal charges, a law-enforcement source said.
Sources said Roman had had a clean employment record since she joined the NYPD in 2003 — although parents said she was often distracted.
“I would never see her [working]. Whenever someone’s crossing, she’s talking to other people,” griped Oscar Paz, 28, whose daughter Jateiri, 6, attends PS 155.
“She’s a person who didn’t do her job well,” he said. “Instead of walking children across the road, she’s distracted and talking to people.”
Jateiri added, “She was always talking on the telephone.”
Amar was crossing First Avenue in the crosswalk with his 9-year-old brother, Youssouf, just as the tractor-trailer made a right turn from East 117th Street onto the avenue.
The trucker, Robert Carroll, 42, of Woodbury, NJ, had a green light and told cops he didn’t see the boy, who had a walk signal and the right of way.
Carroll continued north on First Avenue until witnesses chased him down near East 119th Street to alert him about what had happened.
Amar was lying in a puddle of blood, his backpack in the street. A bicyclist had struggled in vain to help the boy.
“I heard something like a pop. I heard what sounded like something getting hit,” said Samar Preet, 23, who works at a nearby Shell gas station.
“I looked outside and someone who was riding a bike on First Avenue stopped and carried the boy to the sidewalk.
“The boy was bleeding from the head, and he tried to stop the blood. He just picked him up off the street and brought him to the sidewalk,” Preet said. “The guy on the bike did everything he could to save the kid.”
The victim’s big brother was “hysterical, crying” at the scene, said a local resident, Vinny Brasero, 49, adding, “I was crying a little bit because I have kids.
“It was crazy. I saw a man chasing the truck. I saw the boy. There was just so much blood.
“I knew he wasn’t going to make it. I saw he wasn’t moving, and all that blood — it didn’t look good.”
Amar was rushed to Harlem Hospital in cardiac arrest, but emergency workers were unable to save him.
The boy’s parents — Sidiki and Mehichata Diarrassouba of East 105th Street — sobbed over his body at the hospital.
“They wouldn’t let go,” said another parent who saw them in the pediatric emergency room.
The boy’s father was seen later as he left the hospital with his wife and Youssouf.
“I’m so out of it, I can’t think,” he said.
He later said, “I feel sad. He was my little boy. I spent the night with him [and] the morning before he went to school. Then this happened.”
Imam Diarrassover Konate, the victim’s uncle, said the boy’s mother is a devout Muslim who is relying on her faith to cope with the tragedy.
“She is in high spirits. With God there are no shackles,” he said.
Konate said he was afraid Youssouf might blame himself.
“I was worried that the boy would think, ‘I should have been there for my little brother. I should have been able to do something.’ But he is OK.”
Amar’s dad refused to blame the crossing guard.
“I believe in God. I’m a Muslim, so whatever Allah decides is [right]. He’s the one who gave him to me, and then he took him back. He’s the one who decided today was his last,” he said.
“She loved that boy. If something happened, I don’t want to blame her. I cannot blame her for that.”
Amar’s mom, Mehichata, choked back tears as she spoke of her lost little boy.
“He was a wonderful child,” she sobbed. “He was so smart. He loved everybody.”
Carroll, a driver for McLane Foodservice Distribution, was issued summonses for failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
He could not be reached, and the company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Roman’s granddaughter Karina Matias, 21, from Queens, blamed the trucker.
“How do you get a ticket for hitting a child and my grandmother’s still being questioned by the police?” she said, while Roman was still at the precinct station house.
“It’s the driver’s fault; you have to look both ways. How do you miss [seeing] a child?
“They shouldn’t blame my grandmother. She takes the job seriously.”
Roman is one of about 2,100 NYPD crossing guards entrusted to protect city schoolchildren every day.
Their part-time shifts run from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., then noon to 3p.m.
Salaries start at $9.88 per hour and go to $12.90 after three years. Those working more than 20 hours weekly qualify for health insurance and benefits.
They carry no weapons and are subject to periodic, random drug and alcohol testing.
The NYPD is always looking for more crossing guards because there is a high turnover rate.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli, Jessica Simeone, Reuven Fenton and Bob Fredericks