Toddler better, seek hit-and-run driver

BY TONIA N. CIMINO

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 3:55 PM EDT

Days after being mowed down by a car, Jaylein Peralta, 2, has had her breathing tube removed – and neighbors are still in awe as to why the toddler was out on a “dangerous” street, allegedly with no adult supervision.

“I've seen that girl [Jaylein] outside with other kids – no adult supervision – playing outside,” said a neighbor, who declined to give a name, several houses down on 85th Street in Woodhaven. “Cars come rushing down here and there's that blind spot at the corner [before the street intersects with Rockaway Boulevard]. It’s very sad, but this is not the first time it’s happened [that Jaylein got out]. I heard that one time, she got out and someone called the cops, but the cops just brought her right back home.”

Police said it was on Friday night, June 12, that Jaylein allegedly wandered from the home, reportedly with another child – an 18-month-old boy – and onto Rockaway Boulevard.

    A hit-and-run driver then allegedly ran her down. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, but Oscar Peralta, Jaylein’s uncle, told The Courier on Monday, June 15 – the same day her breathing tube was removed – that “she is recovering.”

    Reports claim that Jaylein’s mom, 20-year-old Jeanette Peralta, had just left work when the accident happened.

    Police do not have a description of the vehicle, and an electronic sign on Rockaway Boulevard reads, “Hit and Run Accident @ 9:32 PM on 6/12/09 any info call 1-800-577-TIPS.”

    “She is a good mother, the girl [Jaylein] is always with her,” said another neighbor, Mary Mosses. “The mother works at the Pioneer Supermarket and the girl probably went to find her.” I think the mother was working at the time. I'm a mother and I see her with her child. I have never seen [Jaylein] just alone on the street.”

    Sharman Stein, spokesperson for the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), said that the agency urges “anyone who has a fear that a child may be unsupervised, unsafe, or in any way being abused or neglected, to please call 3-1-1 and ask to be connected to the State Central Register for Child Abuse.”

            – With reporting by Nick Costales and Ahmed Lakhaney

Photo Courtesy The New York Daily News
Jaylein Peralta, 2, was allegedly on the street with no adult when she was hit by a car. She is now recovering, according to family.