Dirt Bike Rider Charged With Hitting 4-Year-Old Boy In Queens Blames Parents In TikTok Confession – NBC New York

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Police arrested the man on Sunday on suspicion of hitting a 4-year-old boy while riding an off-road motorcycle in a Queens park before fleeing the scene of an incident he allegedly blamed on the parents of the ‘child.

Argenis Rivas faced a slew of charges for the alleged hit and run around 6 p.m. at Flushing Meadows Corona Park which left little Jonathan Beauchamps fighting for his life this weekend. Rivas, 29, reportedly did not stop after Beauchamps suffered a severe head injury.

The child, who was spending time with his father and siblings at the time, was taken to Cohen Children’s Hospital, where his parents said he was stable but still had an long way to go to recover.

“He’s a strong boy. He said, ‘Daddy, I’m strong!’ said the father, who did not wish to be identified. “I tell him all the time in the hospital and he’s with the tube, I was telling him you strong baby, you strong, you have superpowers.”

Rivas was charged with assault, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, acting in a manner detrimental to a child and riding an unlicensed motorcycle without license or insurance. It was not immediately clear whether he had hired a lawyer.

It was an admission Rivas made on social media that may have helped him find me handcuffed. Beachamps’ parents said he was seen in a TikTok video admitting to punching the toddler.

In the short video, Rivas can be heard in Spanish saying “We collided over there! A child was run over,” followed by the claim that the boy’s parents were to blame.

“It was the parents’ fault for not paying attention to their child,” we hear it said in Spanish.

Beauchamps’ parents were dismayed by the suspect’s cheeky and callous remarks.

“He didn’t care. He didn’t care like he did,” the boy’s father said. “What if he has a child?” What if it was done to him? … He would want the same justice, right? “

An investigation is underway, police said. Given the crowds at the park on a sunny weekend evening, many witnesses said they didn’t even realize something was wrong.

“There was so much commotion that we didn’t even realize someone had been hit until the ambulance and everyone arrived,” a witness told NBC New York.

Others said off-road motorcycles are a regular threat in the park, as well as throughout the city. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the NYPD was making progress, but also asking for the public’s help.

“We need community members to help us find where they are kept so that we can get them, grab them. If there is one there, it’s immediately illegal,” de Blasio said. . “It’s just not allowed in New York, and we’re going to destroy them, literally, and send a message to people.”

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