8-year-old struck by vehicle while riding bike in Mastic; charges not filed

The incident was caught on camera, showing Zhion Brown Parks get hit and her bike go flying. She limps away crying and calls for her mom. It unfolded last week on the corner of Orchid Drive and Cedar Road.

News 12 Staff

Sep 29, 2020, 2:18 AM

Updated 1,444 days ago

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A Mastic family is outraged after their 8-year-old was hit by a car while riding her bike and the driver was not charged.
The incident was caught on camera, showing Zhion Brown Parks get hit and her bike go flying. She limps away crying and calls for her mom. It unfolded last week on the corner of Orchid Drive and Cedar Road.
News 12 does not have the full video, only the two clips provided by the girl's family. The homeowner tells News 12 the video comes from a motion-activity security system that started recording when the girl was struck, then stopped, then started recording as the car drove away. The homeowner has no relation to the family.
The video also shows the driver stick her head out of the car as Parks continues to scream. About a minute later, the woman leaves the scene.
"She left my daughter there. My baby was screaming for me," says Nicole Smith, Zhion's mother. "The audacity to leave somebody there."
Smith says her daughter is traumatized and has left her not wanting to ride her bike anymore.
"She didn't say nothing until the next day, that's how traumatized she was. She was so scared," says Patrice Wilson, Zhion's aunt.
Smith says this was made only worse because police told her charges couldn't be brought against the driver because the woman filed a police report. Smith disputes that, saying, "She did not go to the cops. When I went to the cops, they had no knowledge of it."
The child's mother says while she did not break any bones, she is still limping.
Police released a statement on the incident saying the driver reported the incident a few minutes after from a nearby location. They go on to say that the driver says that the child told her she was not injured and that she left with another child.
The police statement also says the driver was within the requirements of the law.