Cabbie guilty in hit-run that killed boy, injured mom on Logan street

Yves Aristilde, who claimed he did not stop his taxi cab to render aid after running over a young mother and son last year because he had heard gunfire, was convicted yesterday of killing the 5-year-old boy.

Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner found Aristilde, 63, of Logan, guilty after a nonjury trial of homicide by vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and related counts.

Lerner set sentencing for Dec. 8. On the most serious charge, homicide by vehicle, Aristilde faces 3 1/2 to seven years in prison, said Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy.

The judge refused Conroy's request to revoke Aristilde's $200,000 bail but did order the defendant to be taken into custody until he can be outfitted with an electronic monitoring device, which he will wear while serving house arrest until sentencing.

Lerner took that precaution after Conroy revealed that Aristilde had four DUI arrests and three convictions and several bench warrants for failing to show up for court proceedings, all in New York state.

On Aug. 24, 2008, Dana Reynolds, then 23, and her son, Terrell Elliott, 5, were hit by Aristilde's Yellow Cab at 1:48 a.m. as she carried the boy across Windrim Avenue near Lindley, in Logan.

Witnesses testified that the cab sped through a red light at about 40 mph, 15 mph above the speed limit.

Terrell hit the windshield, rolled over the hood and traveled 61 feet from the point of impact, and his mother was found 36 feet away, Officer Charles Phillips testified on Tuesday.

The boy was killed; Reynolds has recovered.

Aristilde swerved and slammed on his brakes, leaving a 212-foot-long tire mark on Windrim Avenue, before driving off.

He abandoned the cab about eight blocks away and walked to his home on Duncannon Avenue, eight blocks from there, he told police when he turned himself in later that day.

"I just want to let his family know that we don't hold any animosity toward them. Our hearts go out to them because their family is also taking a loss," Lynda Payton, Terrell's grandmother, said after the trial.

Aristilde told police he did not stop because he had heard gunfire in the area and became frightened, having been robbed twice in New York and once in Philadelphia.

Officer Mark Menke, however, testified that a check of the department's computer system, which tracks calls to police, found none involving gunshots in that area at the time of the accident.