Photo: Unsplash (Courtesy of Bill Oxford)
July 22, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Police have nabbed the hit-and-run biker who crashed into a four-year-old boy in Flushing Meadows Corona Park Sunday.
Officers cuffed 29-year-old Argenis Rivas, of Whitestone, on a series of charges including assault and leaving the scene of an accident Wednesday—after a TikTok video tipped them off.
Rivas reportedly posted a video to TikTok showing off his scrapes from the crash and blaming the four-year-old and his parents.
“No, it’s not my fault. It’s the kid’s fault. I tried to brake fast,” he said in Spanish in the video, according to the New York Daily News. “And it’s the parents’ fault because they weren’t paying attention to their son. He just came out of nowhere and you can’t really do anything.”
Rivas was allegedly speeding on an illegal motorized bike in the parking lot of the Flushing Meadow Boathouse Sunday when he struck the child at about 5:45 p.m. He raced off from the scene of the crash, despite knocking the boy unconscious, police said.
The child was rushed to Flushing Hospital with injuries to his head and torso. He was later transferred to Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, where his condition is improving, but remains critical, NYPD officials said Tuesday.
Rivas was arrested on charges of assault, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, acting in a manner injurious to a child, operating a motor vehicle without insurance, operating an unregistered motorcycle and operating a motor vehicle without a license.
The NYPD had offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could provide information that would lead to an arrest in the case.
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