NYC blames parents' 'negligence' for death of baby girl killed by driver in Brooklyn

New York City has blamed the death of a baby girl killed by a speeding driver on her parents because they should have been aware that the sidewalks are an 'obvious dangerous.'  

Julien Mong and Marion Guillemin had filed a lawsuit against the city after their three-month-old, Apolline, was fatally struck by Tyrik Mott, 29, who they claim should have had his car impounded after racking up 160 fines.  

The grieving parents also said the city was negligent by not addressing the dangers of the narrow one-way street where the parents and daughter were hit, and claimed NYPD officers disregarded public safety when they chased after the speeding Mott.

The city's Assistant Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Gross hit back, blaming the parents for 'negligence' and 'culpable conduct' because they should have known how dangerous the city's streets are. 

'Any and all risks, hazards, defects, and dangers … were of an open, obvious, apparent, and inherent nature, and were known or should have been known to plaintiff[s],' the city's attorneys wrote. 

NYC blamed the death a three-month-old girl on her parents after they sued the city for negligence for not impounding Tyrik Mott's car. Police said Mott, 29, blew a red light and went the wrong way down a street before he T-boned into a car and crashed into the family 

Julien Mong and Marion Guillemin were walking with their daughter, Apolline, when the cars slammed into them. The toddler died from the crash, and Guillemin was left disfigured 

The parents also claim the city failed to correct unsafe conditions in the narrow road where the crash took place (above) and that police had acted recklessly when chasing after Mott

Pictured: Guillemin rushed to New York - Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital 

The deadly crash took place last September, when Mott was driving away from police after failing to stop at a red light, going down the wrong way on Gates Avenue and crashing into a car. 

The collision sent both cars on the sidewalk where Mong and Guillemin were pushing their daughter's stroller, slamming into them. 

The parents claim they both needed surgery after the crash, with Guillemin being permanently disfigured and suffering from traumatic brain injury, the New York Daily News reported. 

Last month, they filed a suit against the city and Mott, who has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges, with the parents arguing that the city violated its own Reckless Driver Accountability Act. 

The 2020 law allows police to impound any car with at least 15 speed-cameras tickets or five red-light tickets during a 12-month period, which would apply to Mott as he accrued 160 traffic violations since June 2017, including 35 for speeding in school zones. 

RELATED ARTICLES

• Previous
• 1
• Next

• Jurors in Fallen Seven case ACQUIT Ukrainian truck driver,... Unborn baby killed in horror LA crash was nearly full-term...

Share this article

Harris Marks, the parents' lawyer, told NY Daily News: 'The amount of tickets unfortunately that this driver had were an unbelievable amount, and this person should have never been on the road. 

And unfortunately, that was compounded by how dangerous that intersection was.'

In the suit, Marks outlines the intersection of Vanderbilt Avenue and Gates Avenue as an extremely dangerous road that has received multiple complaints in the past. Gates is a narrow, one-way road that opens into a two-way road. 

The suit blames the city for failing 'to design, construct … and maintain [roads] in a reasonably safe condition thereby creating dangerous and hazardous conditions.' 

'It's beyond offensive,' Marks told StreetsBlog of the city's claim against the parents. ' As attorneys, we have an obligation to not make frivolous claims, and in my opinion, saying that Julian Mong or Marion Guillemin are negligent or had anything to do with the death of their child because they were standing on a sidewalk is offensive and should be withdrawn. 

'The city knows it's absolutely not true, but they put it in there anyway.'

The city claims the parents should have been aware about the dangers on the street as it claimed New York was 'immune' to their lawsuit 

The city's lawyers also argued that police acted appropriately when they chased after Mott, who was also being sued and has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges 

The parents suit also claims that the NYPD 'acted in wanton disregard in their unsafe pursuit of Mott's vehicle for running a red light' prior to the crash.

The city has refuted the families claims and said its Department of Transportation can't be held accountable for roadways that fail to be redesigned for safety. 

'The City of New York is immune from suit,' the lawyers claim, because the original road design ''involved governmental planning decisions undertaken with adequate study and a reasonable basis, and/or the exercise of discretion in the performance of a governmental function and/or the exercise of professional judgment.' 

The city also said the NYPD officers who chased after Mott acted in the interest of public safety and could not be sued. 

'The risks to the public outweighed the danger to the community if the suspect was not immediately apprehended,' the papers read. 

The city claimed that any damages the family suffered were 'caused in whole or in part by the actions or omissions of defendant Tyrik Mott' as well as the couple who were driving the car Mott hit, Joseph and Hallie Moore.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Bcn2PaWlsbV%2BDpoR5waWYpp2jYr2ivsSnq6xlnpq0rbXGnqWcnV2ZsqLAx2aZmpqpYrSqvstmoqKknJqxbrDRoq2eql13v7C7yqWwp2aYqbqt