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Pols Seek Harsher Penalties For Unlicensed Drivers, Question Why There Were No Crossing Guards

Dec. 24, 2013 By Christian Murray

Three days after an unlicensed driver struck and killed an 8-year-old boy on Northern Blvd, several lawmakers came out calling for tougher penalties for unlicensed drivers.

Noshat Nahian, a third grader at PS 152, lost his life when he was hit by a tractor trailer while crossing Northern Boulevard at 61st Street on Friday morning. The truck driver, Mauricio Osorio-Palominos, 51, was driving without a license.

On Monday, State Senator Mike Gianaris held a press conference at the site of the accident and announced that he had introduced legislation that would increase the penalty–from a misdemeanor to a felony– for those who kill or injure while driving without a license.

“The person who killed this young boy… can get off with little or no jail time or get off with little more than fine,” Gianaris said. “That is outrageous,” he said, as he called for harsher sentences.

“A little boy is dead because this driver was still on the road,” Gianaris said.

While public officials were not exactly sure why Palominos’ license was suspended, they did say he had a history of reckless driving.

Gianaris’ bill also calls for the immediate impoundment of the license plate of a vehicle being operated by someone with a suspended license. “While we can’t turn back the clock [on this accident], we can make it more difficult for people to do this in the future.”

Sen. Jose Peralta, who said he would support the bill, said: “We need to send a loud message to anyone who drives without a license that this is not going to be accepted.”

However, public officials also noted that the lack of school crossing guards played a role in Friday’s tragedy.

The school had been calling for crossing guards at the very location of the accident since September.

“It’s disgraceful that the administration did not provide a crossing guard when it was requested,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. “Anyone who has been here for 5 minutes knows this needs a crossing guard.”

Meanwhile, Paul Steely-White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said that car accidents are the biggest cause of deaths among New York children.

Officials said that two children and a teenager had already been killed in accidents within a mile of Friday’s accident in the past year.  Louis Bravo, 19, was killed in a hit-and-run incident at 58th and Broadway; Miguel Torres, 11, was run over at 80th Street and Northern Blvd; and Olvin Jahir Figueroa, 3, was struck at Junction Boulevard and Northern Boulevard.

 

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20 Comments

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jail!

If you are driving w/o a license- JAIL.
If you are driving w/o insurance-JAIL.

If you are driving w/o the above AND hit someone-throw away the key.

A car is a weapon in the hands of some people….

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el real carlos danger

**another el carlos danger hijacked post 12/26 above most likely by the lowlife who defended the killer bike thugs in the other thread for killing the grandma
——-

For this story, it is sad that this senator gets up there and says he wants to increase the penalty for killing or injuring w/o a license.

So we have to wait until there’s blood until its considered wrong? in other words, its fine until you kill or injure. No wonder congress’ appvl rating are in the single digits.

The real el carlos danger

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House of O'Shea

@guest
What kind of question is that?
By street naming, a politician says they are doing something about an issue.
Is the public that stupid ?
The driver’s max sentence is a 10- 15 day jail time and $300 fine for not having a license. We don’t know if he will do time for causing the death of this kid.
I can’t help but imagine the $300 added as price on this kid’s toe tag.
This is what the law says this kid is worth.
Increasing mandatory minimums and permanently taking away people’s cars should be considered. This is an issue all parents here in Sunnyside should take seriously.

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Guest

I don’t understand something.
Are you guys AGAINST street naming or FOR it?
Pick a side and stick to it.

I would say that let’s try to stop street naming once and for all instead of asking why this one was not named after, etc.. It is already pretty obvious why these street namings took place, let’s just try to put an end to it instead of encouraging it by any means before our poles are filled with green signs with names of random people. Do you really want them to say “here, I named it after this person” and week later “here, another one, happy?” It does not matter.

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RockybalboaII

Grand standing politicians is right – starting with Little Jimmy Van Bramer and also Mike Giannaris. And right on about the street namings! We hear, “What harm did it do” when streets were named after Mr. Rispoli and the child who was killed in Newtown. Does this child’s life not matter?

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sunnysideposthatesme14

Right on Jane!

oh look SuperWittySmitty someone who shares my opinion on these matters.

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JaneGrissom

Grandstanding is right. Imagine the trauma that the family of this poor child must feel. And we can be sure that Jimmy Van Bramer et al will not arrange a “street naming” since this is not a child from Sunnyside Gardens. These politicians, despite being “liberals” shill only for their privileged friends who can promote a cause.

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Guest

I don’t understand this site’s management, why are they allowing certain people to hijack others username and post under their names? Doesn’t the blog owner care about anything other than advertisement revenue?

I wish we could all get together once a week or once a month somewhere and talk face to face and speak our minds without the presence of certain people who just flare unnecessary arguments and post comments when they have no guts to say the same things to others faces. It’s really a shame.

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condaggitt

Politicians dont have the guts to impound the car for 6 month a year or forever……..

Racism …its racist to do that…..take away a mans living….poor people & minorities will be mostly affected.

Well that’s probably true… poor people would have no money to buy another car….

and isn’t that the real solution?

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el carlos danger

again, I the real el carlos danger didn’t post the above comment. Only a sick moron would try to be funny in this thread, and on Christmas, even worse.

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sunnysideposthatesme14

I do believe that the officials are reading my comments and taking it to heart.

the power of words indeed.

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CelticWarrior

I think its quite a stretch to call this guy a killer. It was an unfortunate accident and I’m sure the guy will feel the burden for years to come. But lets not compare him for example to that carjacking gang in NJ – those are killers.

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House of O'Shea

Which is more disgusting?
Grandstanding from these politicians or the fact that this killer has been in the streets unlicensed for years?

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Webley

How is a crossing guard going to help when the driver is reckless and unlicensed? I still suggest overpasses despite some person here claiming “they are expensive to maintain” Tell that to this dead kid’s family. “Expensive”.

You cannot stop people from driving without a license unless you make the laws a lot harsher, since it takes decades to change laws in this country, you can just build an overpass make some union members happy and get a much quicker solution. Look at queens blvd. 12 lanes of mayhem, there is not a single overpass. Go check China, Europe, South America, both more developed and less developed countries can maintain overpasses, most of them with escalators, and all we can do is complain “expensive”.

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Sycamore

It sure would help if authorities would pay for crossing guards and stop crowding more and more people into this neighborhood. We are smack in the middle of two ground level expressways, Northern Blvd. and Queens Blvd. They are not safe to walk across, period.

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Celtic Bark

The only license this jackass had was the city’s unofficial license to kill, as long long as you kill someone with your motor vehicle.

The slaughter simply has to stop. I’m happy to see local officials are starting to realize that.

Reply

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