5 children killed in Westchester crash have been doubtless panhandling: cops
The 5 youngsters who were killed in a horrific car crash in Westchester County final month have been doubtless getting back from panhandling at a New Jersey purchasing heart, cops say.
Sisters Zahnyiah, 12, and Shawnell Cross, 11, their half-brothers AJ Billips Jr., 17, and Andrew Billips, 8, and cousin Malik Smith Jr., 16; all died March 12 on their means again house to Connecticut when Smith, who was driving them, ran off the highway on the Hutchinson River Parkway in Scarsdale.
Police consider that Smith — who didn’t have a license and was driving a relative’s rented automobile — may need been distracted or fallen asleep on the wheel and didn’t make a flip, crashing right into a tree and inflicting the automotive to burst into flames.
One other relative, Abraham Billips, 9, was the only real survivor of the crash. He was pulled from the burning automobile by a very good Samaritan who discovered him within the rear cargo space.
Whereas Westchester County Police proceed to analyze the lethal incident, they are saying footage from a New Jersey purchasing heart reveals the youngsters have been doubtless asking for cash from native consumers simply hours earlier than the tragedy, WYMT reported.
Investigators stated surveillance video captured the youngsters interacting with a number of individuals within the purchasing heart “in a means that steered they have been panhandling.”
The state of affairs coincides with an incident in August 2022, when police caught AJ and his siblings interacting similarly with individuals on Boston Submit Highway in Connecticut, cops stated.
When stopped by police on the time, AJ initially gave the officers a pretend identify and birthday, and he appeared “extraordinarily guarded and never keen to supply up a lot info,” authorities stated.
“The youthful youngsters have been his siblings” and appeared “nervous” whereas claiming they have been elevating cash for a youth basketball staff, police stated. There was no document of the staff.
Investigators probing final month’s crash famous that the youngsters, who lived in Derby, weren’t enrolled in class on the time of their deaths.
The household stays below investigation with the Connecticut Division of Kids and Households.
Smith’s father, Malik Smith Sr., beforehand advised CBS that he warned his son to cease driving round with no license or allow.
In a photograph tribute to his youngsters, dad Anthony Billips Sr. stated,“The ache we’re feeling phrases [can’t] even specific and we wouldn’t want this to occur to anybody on this world.”