The Harlem intersection where a 6-year-old boy was killed walking to school last February is routinely without an NYPD crossing guard. According to the Post, the crosswalks at First Avenue and East 117th Street, an area that is frequented by the kind of tractor trailers that fatally struck Amar Diarrassouba, had no crossing guard to escort children on Thursday. "If we have the manpower to put somebody there, we will. If not, it goes uncovered for the day," a supervisor at the 25th Precinct told a Post source. "Of course, it's dangerous. But I'm down guards in other areas."
The NYPD explained Thursday's absence by noting that the guard had taken a personal day, and there was no one available to cover her shift.
The guard who was supposed to be present on the day Diarrassouba was killed, 55-year-old Flavia Roman, allegedly lied about being at her post, then stated that an unspecified emergency prevented her from working. Roman remains suspended by the NYPD and her case is still under investigation.
The truck driver who killed Diarrassouba was given tickets for failure to yield and failure to exercise due care. His family has since sued the city for $50 million.
At a hearing in March, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told City Council members of crossing guards, "It's not a very easy job to fill, not a particularly well-paying job. It is a part-time job, it is a split-shift…We appreciate them. They do a good job."
The NYPD employs around 2,100 crossing guards. The starting pay is $10/hour, and doesn't get above $13.
“If a kid was hit by a car on 86th Street, there would be hell to pay,” a Harlem resident who walks with her 6-year-old around the neighborhood told the Post. "There would be a crossing guard every day and a replacement. These are African-American and Hispanic children in East Harlem. The city doesn’t care about us.”
