Overview
- Police identified the victim as 4-year-old Zachariah Padilla, struck around 11 a.m. Thursday near Rockaway Parkway and Linden Boulevard by a white Ford SUV that fled.
- Investigators say they have surveillance video of the vehicle and report it was last seen northbound on Rockaway Parkway, with no arrests to date.
- Witnesses said the child broke away from his mother before the collision; he was rushed into Brookdale University Hospital and later pronounced dead as his family called for justice.
- Transportation Alternatives urged the DOT to lower the corridor’s speed limit to 20 mph under Sammy’s Law, citing more than 3,600 speed-camera violations at the intersection in 2025.
- The DOT said it is reviewing the crash and expanding Sammy’s Law, and a separate pre-dawn hit-and-run killed a man five blocks away on Saturday.