By JOHN DOYLE
Posted: 4:26 am
July 20, 2008
An 11-year-old Brooklyn boy was killed by a hit-run driver early yesterday, cops and his family said.
Three cars were racing down a Flatbush street as Rondell Grant Jr. was leaving a barbecue at his grandmother's house on East 42nd Street at 1:24 a.m., according to police.
As he stepped to the street, two cars shot past him toward Foster Avenue, but a third, a Honda Civic, had its headlights off and struck the fifth-grader, leaving him to die in front of his horrified family.
"He looked out between a double-parked car. He leaned out, the third car, it had no lights, it hit him and he went straight up in the air," said Rondell's distraught aunt, Una Alphonso.
She said the barbecue was just winding down when the tragedy occurred.
"We were outside. We were sitting around and talking and joking. I went inside and I heard a tire screech and a bang. I thought it was two cars. I heard crying and I ran outside and he was on the floor all twisted up," said Alphonso, 41.
A 911 tip lead cops to the suspect, Naquan Mandry, 19, of Brooklyn. A dented Honda Civic with a shattered windshield was found near his home, sources said.
He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
