The teen road menace who fatally struck 4-year-old Ariel Russo while fleeing police in a family SUV last summer, was busted behind the wheel again — this time dragging a cop 100 feet, officials said Wednesday.
Still-unlicensed driver Franklin Reyes Jr., 18, out on bail in the Russo case, was pulled over at West 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Sunday night before leading cops on another wild chase, officials said.
Russo’s parents were outraged on Wednesday, wondering how Reyes could have been left free to wreak more havoc after killing their daughter.
“He should definitely go away for 15 years. I’m hoping he gets 15 years!” dad Alan Russo fumed. “Fifteen years from now he’ll still be alive and my daughter won’t be.”
Mom Sophia Russo choked back tears, saying she’d wanted to cut Reyes some slack before he was arrested two more times since killing Ariel.
“In the very beginning I thought maybe he was a good kid who made just one mistake but when I saw his demeanor in the courtroom I started to feel a little differently,” the tearful mom said.
The latest wild incident involving Reyes began after he made an illegal left turn at about 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to a Manhattan criminal complaint.
Reyes stopped but wouldn’t put the car in park, authorities said.
When Officer Edward O’Connell reached inside through the black Jeep’s driver’s-side door to put the vehicle into park, Reyes hit the gas, dragging the cop along, authorities said.
“The defendant then drove away, while Officer O’Connell’s arm was still inside the vehicle, dragging Officer O’Connell approximately 100 feet,” O’Connell’s partner, Richard Natal, wrote in the complaint.
O’Connell suffered bruises to his left wrist and elbow.
Reyes hit another car on 179th St. between Amsterdam and Audubon avenues and then almost struck a parking attendant, according to the complaint.
That’s where cops finally caught up with Reyes and arrested him, but not without a fight, authorities said.
“When I attempted to arrest the defendant, he refused to put his hands behind his back, swung his arms up and down, and kicked his legs,” Natal wrote.
He was arraigned the next day and hit with fresh assault, reckless endangerment and driving, unlicensed driving and fleeing a police officer charges. His bail was immediately revoked.
Even before Sunday night’s bust, Reyes had been in trouble since killing Russo and severely injuring her grandmother in the June 4, 2013 crash at West 97 Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
He and his dad, also named Franklin Reyes, were arrested at the building where the father worked as a super at 252 W. 21st St.
On July 17, they allegedly broke into an apartment belonging to a woman who had died and stole a Nikon camera, a $500 Omega watch, $10,000 in jewelry and $2,000 in cash, law enforcement sources said.
He was arraigned on that case Wednesday and Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro unloaded on Reyes, calling him an “extreme flight risk.”
“This defendant certainly has demonstrated his unwillingness to submit to authority. The first time, with grave consequences. The second time, when police are attempting to pull him over, he again causes physical injury,” said Carro.
Defense lawyer Martin Schmukler agreed that Reyes shouldn’t have driven the car but said he did so because he was “lonely.”
“His mother had driven him to the home of a relative. She left the vehicle behind to go somewhere else. The other occupants of the home left … and the defendant, feeling lonely and by himself, felt the best thing he could do was just simply take the car and go home,” said Schmukler.
“His better judgement failed him and he got into the car.”
Additional reporting by David K. Li