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Hit-And-Run Driver Apologizes: "I Took A Life, I Have To Pay For That"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 6, 2014
Modified Jul 6, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 6, 2014
Modified Jul 6, 2014
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This week, a hit-and-run suspect accused of fatally striking a 12-year-old girl and injuring two other people was charged with manslaughter and a host of other charges. Robert DeCarlo, 26, allegedly jumped the curb with his minivan in Brooklyn on Wednesday, fatally striking 12-year-old Joey Sellers, and critical injuring her mother, Marcia Landais, 38, and sister Charlie Sellers, 9. He apologized in a jailhouse interview with the News today: "As a man, as a human being, I’d like to say, 'I'm sorry,'" DeCarlo told them. "I took a life. I have to pay for that. I have to pay for a life."
Joey had just gotten off a bus from camp and was picked up by her mother and sister at Flatlands Avenue and East 46th Street when the incident happened around 4:40 p.m. Wednesday. DeCarlo allegedly abandoned his car, which had been stolen, and ran away from the scene with the vehicle still on top of the women. DeCarlo told the News he ran off in fear from an angry crowd; someone had yelled "get him!" he claims.
DeCarlo has had multiple arrests for drugs in the past, but he says he wasn't high or drunk the day of the incident: "I tried to swerve, but it’s a van," he said. "It flipped. I tried to help [Joey Sellers]. She was under the van. ... I’ll carry her in my mind for the rest of my life." Joey was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, while her younger sister is still in a coma.
"I don’t want to do life," DeCarlo added. "But a good amount of years...15 years, maybe." DeCarlo has been formally charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and in injury, grand larceny, reckless endangerment and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was also ticketed on citations of speeding and running a red light.
Tagged
brooklyn
fatal crash
hit and run
hit and run driver
joey sellers
robert deCarlo
vision zero
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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