Whitestone man arraigned in hit-and-run
Flushing Meadows Corona Park incident left a 4-year-old boy critically injured
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BT TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JULY 30–AUGUST 5, 2021 5
BY BILL PARRY
The Whitestone dirt bike
rider who was charged in
the hit-and-run collision that
left a 4-year-old boy in critical
condition was arraigned
in Queens Criminal Court
Thursday, July 22, and records
show the injuries suffered
by the preschooler were
far greater than initially reported.
Argenis Rivas, 29, was
charged with felony assault,
endangering the welfare
of a child and other crimes
for striking Jonathan Beuschamps
in the parking lot of
the Meadow Lake Boathouse
at Flushing Meadows Corona
Park Sunday evening, July
18.
On July 21, detectives
with the Regional Fugitive
Task Force arrested the reputed
member of the notorious
Trinitarios street gang
who admitted to hitting the
youngster after he ran out
behind two parked cars, leaving
him sprawled on the pavement
with a head wound.
The criminal complaint,
however, shows Beauschamp
spent at least three days intubated
on a respirator at
Cohen’s Children’s Hospital,
where he remains in critical
but stable condition.
The youngster was treated
for a lacerated liver, suffered
tremors and was monitored
for seizures and he had bruising
to his feet, calf, thigh,
underarm and face. He also
suffered a broken ankle in the
collision.
Rivas was riding his illegal
dirt bike at a high rate of
speed when he struck the boy,
and Queens District Attorney
Melinda Katz said the defendant
rode away from the scene
and failed to stop to offer any
aid to the child or to report
the incident. Rivas’ own account
of the collision, as quoted
in the criminal complaint,
was more nefarious.
“I was just riding through
the parking lot. I wasn’t doing
wheelies. I wasn’t racing
anybody, I hit the kid with
the front of the scooter, he
ran out from behind the car,”
Rivas said, before describing
why he left the scene of the
collision. “I don’t have a license,
my friends got kind of
scared because there was an
aggressive crowd. I left with
my friends in a gray Honda
Accord.”
An eyewitness at the
scene stated that Rivas nearly
hit a person standing next
to him.
“What began as a recreational
Sunday in the park
turned into a nightmare for
a Queens family,” Katz said.
“As alleged, the defendant
was illegally riding a scooter
through the park when he
recklessly hit a child and
kept going. The city has seen
an unacceptable increase in
defiant drivers of all types of
vehicles driving illegally and
hurting people. It is time we
stand together to prevent further
harm.”
Katz sat in the courtroom
during the arraignment, and
the boy’s family left Queens
Criminal Court without commenting.
Rivas was ordered held on
$15,000 bail. If convicted, Rivas
faces up to seven years in
prison.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4538.
NYPD Transportation Chief Kim Royster announced a $10,000 reward
for information leading to the arrest of a dirt bike rider who
left a child for dead Sunday. A tip led to a Whitestone man’s arrest
on July 21. Photo by Dean Moses
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