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Multiple Charges For Driver Who Allegedly Hit, Killed 9-Year-Old In Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man has been slapped with multiple charges and traffic citations in connection with a crash that left a 9-year-old boy dead, and three others injured, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn this weekend.

Anthony Byrd, 59, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, reckless driving, driving the wrong direction on a one-way street, failure to yield the right of way, and driving a motor vehicle on the sidewalk, police said.

Police said Byrd was driving a Ford Explorer west on DeKalb Avenue and turned left onto Clermont Avenue, when his sport-utility vehicle was struck by another vehicle.

One neighbor told 1010 WINS reporter Roger Stern that it looked like the SUV may have been trying to avoid cars that were in front of him.

"I just heard screams of terror everywhere. I heard women yelling 'call 911'. It was just a mess," Anwar Roberts said.

The chain reaction crash caused the Explorer to crash into pedestrians, police said.

A 9-year-old boy identified in published reports as Lucian Merriwether was dead at the scene, police said. The boy was pinned by the car, according to police.

A 5-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl and a 47-year-old woman were also struck and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police told CBS 2.

Initially, police said they did not believe they did not believe there was any criminality involved in the crash. Both Byrd and the second driver involved remained at the scene afterward, police said.

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