Teenage Driver’s Lawyer Blames Pothole for Crash That Killed Girl

Prosecutors charged the boy, Franklin Reyes, 17, with second-degree manslaughter after his vehicle jumped a curb at 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and slammed into the girl, Ariel Russo, and her grandmother, Katia Gutierrez, 58. Mr. Reyes had been fleeing from police officers who had just pulled him over.

Besides the criminal charges, the girl’s family has sued Mr. Reyes in civil court and has cast blame on the city as well. They have faulted the police for starting the high-speed chase and the 911 system for a delay in dispatching an ambulance.

But during a court appearance in Manhattan on Wednesday, Mr. Reyes’s lawyer, Martin L. Schmukler, introduced a new potential culprit.

He told Justice Gregory Carro he was not ready for trial because he was seeking city records about pothole repairs at the corner.

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Schmukler said that Mr. Reyes lost control of his family’s Nissan Frontier when he hit a pothole. There are patched spots in the street near the accident site, he said.

“You can see a whole series of holes,” Mr. Schmukler said. “If the vehicle hit a pothole that would explain how it went out of control.”

As she came out of court, the victim’s mother, Sofia Russo, 27, said she was frustrated that Mr. Reyes had continued to duck responsibility for the accident. “He hit them because he was fleeing police,” she said, her eyes welling up. “He seems like the type of person to put the blame everywhere else.”

The child’s father, Alan Russo, added: “He shouldn’t have been driving a car in the first place. He doesn’t have a license.”

During the proceeding, Mr. Reyes kept his head down, his lower lip quivering. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The police have said he took his mother’s car without permission and had only a learner’s permit. He was traveling about 34 miles per hour around a corner, four miles an hour above the speed limit, when the car careened onto the sidewalk.

Judge Carro gave Mr. Schmukler until Dec. 18 to obtain reports about street repairs. He also directed the prosecution to finish turning over evidence against Mr. Reyes to the defense, including material recovered from search warrants. “There is nothing to do but try this case,” he said.

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