Pirro wants to press federal charges for suspect who struck child in D.C. while riding ATV

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro wants to charge the unidentified driver of an all-terrain vehicle with a federal offense of aggravated assault for striking a 10-year-old on a street in the District, leaving the child critically injured.

Victim Jahari Alford was riding along with a friend in a bike lane near 14th Street and Chapin Street NW on Saturday when a group riding dirt bikes and ATVs encountered them in the same lane. One of the ATV riders allegedly struck Jahari and another child, the Metropolitan Police Department said, according to WUSA-TV.

Police said the suspect was riding a green and white ATV, and that the driver also left the scene after hitting Jahari, according to WRC-TV.

Jahari suffered critical injuries; his mother Briyonna Alford told WUSA-TV that “he has swelling in the brain, blood in the brain, and he goes in and out of consciousness.”

Witness Nkandu Yumbe told WJLA-TV that the other child, a 12-year-old named Ayden, was “wailing as I’ve never seen a human wail before, even in a funeral situation. He’s seeing his friend, whom I didn’t know was alive or not at the moment.”

The police said that Ayden also suffered injuries, though not as severely as Jahari, according to WJLA-TV.

Ms. Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District, told WJLA-TV that while prosecution for illegally riding an ATV in the District is handled by the city’s Office of the Attorney General, she wants to press federal charges on other grounds where her office has jurisdiction, once a suspect is found and arrested.

Ms. Pirro said that “when the MPD catches them, I’m gonna fight to get them because it’s not just [a city] charge of driving an ATV. To me, it’s being armed with a dangerous weapon and injuring a child, aggravated assault,” according to WUSA-TV.

Karyn Alford, Jahari’s grandmother, told WRC-TV that authorities “need to find the persons, these wild animals that were riding around. They need to be held accountable.”