An 8-year-old boy struck by an SUV in front of shocked relatives and friends Friday evening in Chelsea hung on overnight, but lost his battle for life at 5 a.m. yesterday.
The death of Prince Harris Jr., nicknamed Kumo, saddened his family and everyone who knew him at the Robert S. Fulton Houses, on West 17th Street between Ninth and 10th avenues.
“He’s my heart,” Prince Harris Sr., 27, said yesterday, his T-shirt still stained with his son’s blood.
“He’d be down here today, running around and singing. He’d be playing around. It’s not going to be the same anymore.
“He was loved by everybody. He was just a sunny child. He brought joy.”
Kumo, a student at PS 138, had been heading to a park with two sisters, a brother, an aunt and some friends when he darted ahead at 7:45 p.m. Friday.
“The car . . . threw him up in the air,” said witness Eaver Sampson. “His sneakers were about 70 feet from where he landed.”
Said Kumo’s dad: “Cars speed down this block all day, every day. There’s no speed bump, nothing but buildings – and kids.”
Grandmother Kim Harris, 49, who raised Kumo from birth, promised to “put him in all white – clothes, casket, everything.”
Investigators said the Toyota Scion’s driver, a 44-year-old whose name was not released, was not at fault and would not be charged with a crime.