4-Year-Old Autistic Boy Struck By Car, Dies While Returning Home From Brother's Funeral

A 4-year-old autistic boy was reportedly fatally struck by a car on Saturday, Aug. 20, while he was on his way home from his older brother’s funeral in Queens.

The toddler autistic boy, Domantea McDonald, was reportedly outside his uncle’s home on 147th Street near Foch Blvd. in South Jamaica on Saturday, Aug. 20, after returning from his big brother 18-year-old Tysheem McDonald's funeral. While he was outside the residence, the child suddenly broke away from his mother and ran into the street, where he was struck by a Toyota RAV4, New York Post reported.

Seeing the little boy run towards the oncoming traffic, his mother chased after him and was also struck in the foot in the collision. The driver, an unnamed 32-year-old man, stayed at the scene after the accident and has not been charged.

“There’s nothing inside me. There’s nothing. I’m empty,’’ said the boy's father Michael McDonald.

“I just came from burying my [older] son. [Domantea] was only here for a split second to see me. … He wasn’t supposed to leave the world like that,” the dad said.

“Two in one month, it hurts,” said the dead brothers’ uncle, Maurice McDonald. “We had just come back from mourning one, and the other one died.”

Domantea was reportedly still conscious and wriggling on the ground immediately after the accident, screaming for his mother. The father tried to hold the boy down and keep him stabilized while he waited for EMS workers to arrive.

“They said don’t move him, so I was keeping him on the floor, trying to keep him calm. His eyes were wide open. He was trying to get up. We held him there for however long it took for the Fire Department to get here,” the dad recalled.

When emergency responders arrived, they turned the boy to his side to check if he had any bruises. As they repositioned him, Domantea saw his injured mother and wanted to go to her. He reportedly started crawling toward his mom, however, after moving some 5 feet, he passed out on the pavement, the Daily News reported.

According to officers, the boy sustained “severe head trauma and internal injuries” and was initially taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in stable condition. Unfortunately, he later suffered a medical episode and died at the health facility.

Following the incident, the boy's devastated father claimed that the toddler's death could’ve been prevented and questioned why emergency responders allowed the child to move of his own accord.

The boy's older brother Tysheem was shot and killed on Aug. 7 after he told relatives that he was going to record some music at a local studio. Officers suspect Tysheem's murder to be a gang-related hit.