A suspect has been charged with murder after his out-of-control rampage in Brooklyn left a grandmother dead and her young grandson fighting for his life with a frightening brain injury, the district attorney announced.
Tyler Green, 22, was charged in a 35-count indictment Thursday, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a press release. The Bed-Stuy resident faces a slew of charges including second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, second-degree manslaughter and other related charges for the June 25 incident that resulted in Lynn Christopher's death.
"This defendant’s alleged recklessness behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle cost a beloved grandmother her life and injured others as he fled from a traffic stop. Everyone in Brooklyn deserves to feel safe on our streets," said Gonzalez.
According to the investigation, Green was driving a stolen Honda SUV just after 7 p.m. when police stopped him at the corner of Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street after seeing him drive through a stop sign. The officers also found that the license plate did not match the vehicle.
Green allegedly sped away, making it four blocks before weaving around cars stopped at a red light in a busy intersection on Macon Street. He went into the intersection against the light and against traffic, the district attorney's office said, striking a 28-year-old cyclist heading the opposite way. That cyclist suffered a fractured leg as a result.
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As he was driving, Green also hit Christopher, who had a walk sign as she crossed Ralph Avenue, the investigation found. Along with the 68-year-old was her 8-year-old grandson Jacob Butler, visiting from Atlanta, as the pair were out enjoying a sunny day together.
The grandmother died at the scene, police said, just steps away from the family's home. Butler suffered traumatic brain injuries, and the young boy was still hospitalized nearly four months later. He is on the road to recovery at a rehabilitation facility.
"He had a brain bleed so they had to cut his skull open and reduce the swelling," Lesley Christopher, the boy's aunt, said shortly after the incident.
The carnage did not stop there, however, as Green allegedly kept on going and T-boned another vehicle after running another red light at an intersection. The 24-year-old driver behind the wheel of the other vehicle suffered a broken collar bone, the DA's office said.
Green's vehicular rampage finally came to a halt when his vehicle hopped a curb and crashed into a corner deli, video showed. A 43-year-old worker at the deli who happened to be standing outside at the time suffered minor injuries.
But the suspect didn't stop there, as he and another man allegedly jumped out of the SUV and took off on foot. Security camera footage showed Green run back to his home about a mile away on Gates Avenue, the district attorney said.
DNA matching Green was recovered from the deployed airbag of the Honda SUV, according to the DA. He did not respond to questions from reporters as he was escorted by police to court on Thursday.
Lesley Christopher, the victim's daughter, said her mother retired two years ago after working at NYU Langone in the hospital's pathology department. She was born in Trinidad and came to Brooklyn to raise her four kids. Lesley was relieved an arrest had finally been made.
"It's a huge relief. I'm glad they arrested someone who did this heinous thing because it's been a really hard time for our family dealing with the loss of our mom and our precious boys still...fighting for, you know, his life," she said. "It's been terrible. When you lose somebody who was as good a mom as our mom was was...she was a really good, loving person and a lot of people loved her. And you took that away."
Green was ordered held without bail, and is next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 2, the DA said. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.
Attorney information for Green was not immediately available.
