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Driver Fleeing Cops Crashes Into Car, Killing 9-Year-Old Girl
By
Jen Chung
Published May 5, 2014
Modified May 5, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 5, 2014
Modified May 5, 2014
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A driver was arrested after causing two crashes and killing a nine-year-old passenger in another car in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon. Kenneth Palache, 62, was charged with criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, leaving the scene of an accident (failure to show a license) and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
The Daily News reports that Palache, a resident of Huntington, NY, had been pulled over at Remsen Avenue and Avenue L in Canarsie because police said "his Honda Odyssey matched a description of an SUV involved in a nearby hit-and-run crash."
But Remsen allegedly fled the traffic stop, traveling southbound on Remsen and colliding into a Hyundai Elantra at Avenue N and Remsen Avenue as well as Toyota Siena (the Hyundai and Toyote were traveling westbound). Nine-year-old Rebecca Ranmarine, who was in the Hyundai, was taken to the Brookdale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Rebecca and her family had just attended church services and were going to dinner. She was in a family friend's car, while her parents were in another car following behind. Her mother Abiola Ranmarine told the News, "I saw the EMS try to take my daughter out of a mangled car. She was lifeless and had blood all over."
A witness said that the jaws of life were used to open the Hyundai. Passengers in the Hyundai and Toyota were treated for minor injuries.
Father Richard Ranmarine said that the cops told him Palache had a suspended license: "If killing someone is worth you driving on a suspended license that’s ignorant on your part, because you take a 9-year-old life and you’re driving on a suspended license." He added, "You’re not supposed to bury your kids. I’m not angry right now. I don’t know why, but I’m not angry. I’m just hurt because I lost my daughter."
His wife said, "She was a rambunctious 9 -year-old. She loved to dance, she wanted to be a pediatrician."
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brooklyn
cis
crash
kenneth palache
rebecca ranmarine
suspended license
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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