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An 11-year-old Bronx boy buying milk for his infant brother was fatally struck by a car yesterday as he headed home from the store, police and witnesses said.
Russell Smith was crossing the busy Grand Concourse at 7:47 a.m. near the corner of East 183rd Street in the Tremont section when he was struck by a gray Honda.
Witnesses said the impact knocked the boy into the air, and a pool of blood from a severe head injury marked the spot.
Russell, a fifth-grader at nearby PS 9, was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Russell’s mom, Monique Mitchell, 32, wailed through tears outside the hospital.
“He was a good kid. A smart kid. He had a lot of friends. Everybody loved him. He had a big heart.”
Russell’s stepfather, Nosakhare Oronsaye, 31, was inconsolable.
“Russell, tell me what happened,” Oronsaye cried outside the emergency room.
“He was just crossing the street. Please bring him back. I didn’t talk to him before he left. He left without saying anything to me.”
Witnesses said the child was hit by the car’s side mirror as he tried to cross at a light that had changed to red while he was still walking.
The boy’s mother and stepfather, who live nearby, ran out to the accident scene.
“Both of them were crying hysterically, and the mother’s knees were buckling,” said one witness.
The car’s driver, who stopped after the accident, was not charged. A passenger in the car rushed to Russell’s side after the impact.
“She seemed very upset that she had hit the little boy,” said Kwanya Bruce, 27, who had crossed the same street just moments before the boy was hit. She said she turned around when she heard a “thud.”
Another witness said Russell tried to stand after he was hit by the car.
“After he got hit, he stood up, and I think he was dazed, because he ended up falling back on the ground again,” according to the witness.
Witnesses were not sure if the head injury was the result of being hit by the car or falling to the ground.
Russell, who lived with his 16-year-old brother, 6-year-old sister and 4-month-old brother, wanted to become a dancer.
His favorite stars were singer Chris Brown and Michael Jackson, family members said.