The lawyer for the 17-year-old boy facing manslaughter charges for running down a 4-year-old girl on the Upper West Side insinuated yesterday that cops were to blame.
“[My client] doesn’t blame the police officers for chasing him, even though they didn’t have to chase him,” Martin Schmukler said at Franklin Reyes’ Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment.
“Needless to say, it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t been there.”
Reyes was held without bail after prosecutors revealed he was driving 50 to 60 mph before he turned onto West 97th Street from Amsterdam Avenue Monday morning.
The teen — who was driving without a license and said he was scared when he was pulled over at West 89th Street for making a wide turn — allegedly sped away from the cops, mounted a curb on 97th and struck little Ariel Russo.
He then backed up and hit her grandmother, breaking her legs and back, prosecutors said.
Cops had to block him in to keep him from fleeing after he then backed into another car, authorities charged.
Ariel’s grandmother, Katia Gutierrez, 58, has no idea the child is dead, a family friend said.
“She will pull through as long as no one gives her the bad news,” said Wilson Maldonado, 43.
As for Reyes, “He hasn’t broken down or shown any emotional weakness or frailty,” Schmukler bizarrely said outside court.
Neighbors yesterday said they often saw Reyes driving illegally around his Chelsea block.
“I’ve seen him pull up and drop his sisters off and he was alone behind the wheel,” said Ruben Rivera, 28, a super
“I said to him, ‘You’re crazy, man. You’re going to get in trouble. You could kill someone.’ But he wouldn’t say anything. He just smirked.”
Meanwhile, students and teachers attended a memorial for Ariel at her school’s church.