CHEEKTOWAGA (WBEN) - On Friday morning, 37-year-old Kevin Mendola of Buffalo was arraigned in Cheektowaga Town Court on one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and one count of criminally negligent homicide.
It is alleged that on August 11 at approximately 5 p.m., Mendola placed his vehicle into reverse, which hit a child who was standing next to his bicycle on Lovejoy Street near Griffith Park.
"He allegedly backed over (the child), and then put (the vehicle) in forward and went forward again and allegedly ran over the kid a second time," said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn.
The defendant is accused of leaving the scene without reporting the incident. He was located nearby a short time later by police.
The 10-year-old boy was taken by ambulance to Oishei Children's Hospital where he later died from his injuries. The victim's name is not being released at this time.
"Right now, Cheektowaga charged him with criminally negligent homicide, but in my mind, I'm not sure this is a manslaughter or not," said Flynn, noting that manslaughter would be a more severe charge. "To me, on the surface, this may be a manslaughter - the guy backed up, and I have evidence to believe that when he backed up the first time, he knew he hit something, and then he pulls forward again without getting out of his car and finding out what he hit."
Mendola is scheduled to return on Tuesday, August 17 for a felony hearing.
If convicted of all charges, Mendola faces a maximum of 7 years in prison.
