Grief counselors called to school 12-year-old boy killed by livery cab in Harlem

HARLEM (WABC) -- There will be grief counselors at Frederick Douglas Academy Thursday after a 12-year-old boy was killed when he was struck by a livery cab in Harlem.

Witnesses stood horrified after seeing the cab hit and kill the boy Wednesday on his way home from school.

"I hear something outside, I look and I see the little boy," said Abdo Mohammed, a deli worker.

"It was bad. It was real bad. I knew from the reaction of the people out here," a witness said.

Just minutes after students were dismissed from Frederick Douglas, Ervi Secundino tried crossing busy Seventh Avenue near 150th Street, and a nearby crossing guard said there was nothing she could do.

"The little boy ran, he was running but he didn't wait for the light. So the car came and hit him, and he just went up in the air and landed on the car, then the ground," said Phyllis Miles, the crossing guard.

"I saw about four to five officers taking turns trying to save him," a witness said.

The driver stayed at the scene. The sixth-grader was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital.

Just a few blocks away, family and friends asked for privacy at the home Ervi shared with his mom and two siblings. The boy's uncle told Eyewitness News that he got a call saying his nephew was dead and rushed there to be with his sister as she mourns the loss.

As investigators tested the brakes on the badly damaged car that hit him, some residents explained this is a dangerous stretch of roadway.

"This is a school zone. They need to put some speed bumps here. There's a junior high school, elementary school, and a high school. This is Seventh Avenue this is a highway," a resident said.

The investigation is ongoing by the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad.

NYC Schools Chancellor Farina released a statement saying, "I am heartbroken by this tragedy. Ervi's family is in my thoughts as they mourn the unbearable loss of a child so young. I also want to extend my deepest condolences to the entire Frederick Douglass Academy community. We'll be providing additional guidance counselors and ongoing support for as long as the school community needs."