Firefighter Sends Message To Suspect Accused Of Causing Injury To His Teen Daughter
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An outraged father confronted the man accused of seriously injuring his child.
Omar Wilks was escorted out of a Queens courtroom on Monday morning. He is a firefighter who happened to respond to the scene after his daughter was hit by a car and he's now on a campaign to get justice, CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported.
Wilks was forced to sit outside of the courtroom following an outburst directed at 23-year-old suspect Kevin Ramtahal. Wilks was still seething after being removed from the court.
"I was angry. To be honest with you, I felt like leaping over the table and grabbing him up," Wilks said.
Police said Ramathal was the emotionally disturbed suspect captured on surveillance video. He's accused of threatening Wilks' 14-year-old daughter, Amara, on Dec. 6 and allegedly chasing her into the intersection of 110th Street and Jamaica Avenue.
Ramathal alleged told Amara, "I'm coming to get you." Amara panicked and ran into street, where she was hit by a car.
Just a few blocks away, Wilks was on duty as a firefighter when he responded to to what he thought was a routine accident.
"As I'm pulling in, I'm looking out of the window to size up the situation and what do I see? I see my daughter on the floor in blood," he said.
Amara sustained serious leg injuries, including fractured bones. She was in pain.
"She asked me, 'Daddy, am I going to die?' And I told her, 'No, you're going to make it.' I kissed her and when the EMS people came, we picked her up and we put her on the vehicle," Wilks said.
It's an image he said he can't shake, and he made sure Ramtahal was aware of, yelling at him in court and telling Ramtahal to remember what Amara asked.
"It needs to be on his conscience. He needs to understand what he did," Wilks said.
Wilks also wants this to be on incoming District Attorney Melinda Katz's radar, too, saying that the suspect should get the harshest penalty under the law.
"We're holding her accountable to uphold and apply violent felony charges against this guy, this attacker, this criminal," he said.
Amara Wilks has a long road ahead. Not only is she in physical pain, her father said she's emotionally shaken, too.
As for Omar Wilks, the impact of it all has kept him from returning to work.
Ramtahal is facing reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, and harassment charges. He will be back in court on Dec. 23.
