Posted: 14:18, 22 August 2022 | Updated: 16:01, 22 August 2022
A four-year-old boy has died after being hit by a car in New York, moments after returning from his older brother’s funeral in the second blow to the family in as many weeks. Domantea McDonald, who had autism, was standing outside his uncle’s house on 147th Street in Jamaica, Queens around 6pm on Saturday when he suddenly ran off the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic. The toddler was only in the road for a moment, but was hit by a Toyota RAV4 SUV seconds before his mother – who suffered an injury to her leg – could pull him off the road. Devastated family members said Domantea was not killed instantly despite the massive impact and tried to crawl to his mother, screaming for her. But the stricken boy quickly lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Domantea’s grieving father Michael said he was numb after both of his sons were tragically taken from him within two weeks. “There is nothing in me. There is nothing. I’m empty,” Michael confessed after hearing his four-year-old boy died just hours after 18-year-old Tysheem – a shooting victim a fortnight ago – was laid to rest. “I just came from my burial [older] son. [Domantea] he was only here for a split second to see me. He shouldn’t have left the world like this,” he told the New York Post. Domantea McDonald, who had autism, was standing outside his uncle’s house on 147th Street in Jamaica, Queens, before suddenly running off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic (Domantea pictured with his mother) Domantea was still conscious immediately after the accident and Michael rushed to the road to hold him still and prevent him from further injury as they waited for the emergency services. When FDNY first responders arrived on the scene minutes later, they told the dad to step away from his child while they checked on his battered body. But when one of the first responders turned him on his side to check the other side of his body, Domantea spotted his mother and tried to crawl toward her. Michael claimed that emergency responders allowed his son to crawl a few feet despite being told minutes earlier to move away, and claimed that Domantea’s life could have been saved if FDNY responders had held him still before he was taken to the hospital. “He didn’t die in any hospital. He died here,” Michael said. “I could see him leaving his body here because they let him crawl.” However, officers said the boy suffered “severe head trauma and internal injuries” in the accident. Meanwhile, the FDNY said “rescue operations have begun as we transport the patient to the hospital,” but has yet to comment on Michael’s claims. Domantea was hit by an SUV on 147th Street in Jamaica, Queens The driver of the Toyota RAV4 immediately got up and waited at the scene until authorities arrived. He was not charged. “Two in a month, it hurts,” said the dead brothers’ uncle, Maurice MacDonald. “We had just returned from mourning and the other died.” Michael’s next-door neighbor meanwhile told the New York Post: “Summer of 2022, that was the summer that a man lost two of his sons. “That’s something he’ll take to his grave.”
