12-year-old Park Slope boy killed in car accident

A 12-year-old boy is dead after reportedly running into the street and getting hit by a van heading southbound on Prospect Park West at around 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 8, police said.

Samuel Cohen-Eckstein was heading westward across the street when he was struck, said police, who reported that he sustained trauma to the torso area of his body. Cohen-Eckstein was rushed to New York Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He lived right across the street from where he was hit.

The driver of the white 2006 Chevrolet van remained on the scene and has not been arrested or issued any summonses. The investigation is ongoing.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, October 10 at Noon, at Congregation Beth Elohim, located at Garfield Place and Eighth Avenue. Services will be led by Rabbi Lippmann and Cantor Segal.

According to community group Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives, “all who knew Sammy remember his beautiful smile and the light in his eyes, his thoughtful intelligence, his athletic ability, and his laughter. He was to have become bar mitzvah on November 16 of this year.”