Domantea McDonald: Autistic boy, 4, dies after being hit by car following older brother’s funeral
QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY: A four-year-old boy died after being hit by a car while returning from his brother's funeral. Domantea McDonald, four, was outside his uncle's home in Jamaica, Queen's in New York City on Saturday evening, August 20, when he broke away from his mother and ran out into the middle of the road. A Toyota RAV4 was heading down the street and knocked the little one down. The boy’s mother chased after him and was struck in the foot. The driver stayed on scene and has not been charged, according to Daily Mail.
Heartbroken family members said Domantea was not killed instantly despite the huge impact and tried to crawl towards his mother, screaming out for her. But he lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre. Domantea's mourning father Michael said he was numb after both of his sons were tragically taken from him in the space of two weeks.
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“They said don’t move him, so I was keeping him on the floor, trying to keep him calm. His eyes were wide open. He was trying to get up. We held him there for however long it took for the Fire Department to get here,” the father told New York Post. “The fire truck came, and they told us, ‘Back away from him.’ The guy turned him to the side to check if he had any bruises, and Domantea saw his mother and wanted to go to her.”
Michael alleged the emergency services allowed his son to crawl a few feet, despite telling him minutes earlier to step away, and claimed that Domantea's life could've been saved if FDNY responders had kept him still before transporting him to hospital.
“I started bugging out. He wasn’t sleepy, but it looked like he was falling asleep. I said, ‘No, wake him up, wake him up, wake him up!’ ” the father recalled. “He wasn’t breathing. He died right there. He didn’t die in no hospital. He died right here. I watched him leave his body right here because they let him crawl.” “Domantea had special needs. He was the most wonderful soul in the world, the most wonderful boy anybody could want to meet,” the dad said. His older son, Tysheem, was shot and killed August 7 in what cops suspect to be a gang-related hit.
“Tysheem lived in the streets. I accepted it. That was my son. I couldn’t tell him nothing. His mother couldn’t tell him, his uncles couldn’t tell him. He wanted to be his own man,” the dad said. “But he loved his little brother. He only met him a handful of times, and Domantea was very autistic, but when he would see Tysheem, he would go to him. He wouldn’t go to anybody else, but when he saw his big brother, he went to him.”
Michael's next door neighbour, Lewis, 63, said, "The man just lost his older son two weeks ago, and now he loses his other son. Summer 2022, this was the summer a man lost two of his sons." “One was killed, the other was hit by a car. That’s something he’ll take to his grave,” he added.