Questions continue to swirl after NYPD police officers chased a 15-year-old teen suspect who was then fatally struck by an unlicensed Lexus hit-and-run driver in Long Island just outside the city. The officers involved are currently on full duty and have not been disciplined in the incident, police sources said.
Cops responded to a call of a knifepoint robbery in progress in which a group of teens were reportedly trying to steal a 14-year-old’s bike outside a corner pharmacy on Hillside Ave. and 257th St. in Floral Park, Queens, around 8 p.m. on Saturday, sources said.
In the end, no bike was stolen. But officers canvassing the area for suspects in the incident spotted Antonio “Anthony” Benitez fleeing on an electric bike and gave chase, according to a statement by the NYPD. Anthony kept going, entering Nassau County, as the cops pursued him for a little more than a mile, until he was fatally struck by the Lexus driver at Lakeville Rd. and Bryant Ave. in New Hyde Park.
“What we want is justice,” Anthony’s mother told the Daily News on Monday in Spanish. “We want to know the truth and why there’s miscommunication about what happened. We want the whole story put together and to know the real cause.”
Sheetal Banchariya / New York Daily News
Daisy Cabrera, the mother of Antonio Benitez, holds a framed photograph of her deceased son on Monday outside a family member’s home in New Hyde Park. (Sheetal Banchariya / New York Daily News)
It wasn’t clear how fast the cops were driving. A high-ranking NYPD source said the officers were on their radio for much of the chase, calling ahead for assistance.
The NYPD officers were “a bit behind him” at the time of the youth’s fatal collision, the source said, but got to the scene moments later and tried life-saving measures, in vain. Anthony died at the scene.
None of the officers involved in the chase have had their duty status changed and it was unclear if the officers would face any disciplinary action. NYPD Commissioner Tisch, earlier this year, pushed for a crackdown barring high-speed chases for low-level offenses.
The GoFundMe benefitting Anthony’s family raised more than $20,000 from more than 300 donors in less than 24 hours.
A knife was found on Anthony, the source said, but it wasn’t yet clear if the teen took part in the attempted robbery that sparked the chase or how many others are being sought in connection with the incident.
“Everything that they’re putting out there is just false — false alarms, false accusations — without having any proof of anything,” Anthony’s aunt, Emelyn Alvarenga, 27, said. “We family, we don’t have an idea what really happened.”
The investigation into the incident remains ongoing by the Nassau County Police Department in conjunction with NYPD’s Force Investigation Division.
