Young boy killed by car on 17th Street

By Albert Amateau

An eight-year-old boy who was struck by a car in front of his home in the Robert Fulton Houses, on 17th St. west of Ninth Ave. at 8 p.m. Fri. Oct. 5, died in St. Vincent’s Hospital at 5 a.m. the following morning.

Prince Harris Jr., nickname Kumo, was playing in front of his building when he dashed into the street from between parked cars and was struck by a west-bound Toyota Scion, police said.

The driver, 44, stopped after the collision and was not charged. Police said there was no criminality connected to the accident. Nevertheless, a group of distraught neighbors menaced the driver until police arrived after he phoned 911.
The following day, neighbors erected a memorial shrine in front of the building where the family lives with votive candles and a photo of Kumo. The funeral will be on Sun. Oct. 14 at Unity Funeral Chapel, 2352 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (Eighth Ave.), near W. 126th St.

Jimmy Pelsey, president of the Robert Fulton Tenant’s Association, said on Tuesday that tenants and Community Board 4 have been asking the Department of Transportation for the past three years to put a speed bump in W. 17th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. “This street goes right into the West Side Highway and the cars come speeding down here,” Pelsey said. “Nobody listens to you until someone gets killed. There’s going to be more until we do something to slow the traffic,” Pelsey said.