{"id":360576,"date":"2026-09-30T07:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360576\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T07:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:46:10","slug":"driver-72-arrested-in-nyc-hit-and-run-that-killed-ex-nickelodeon-star-kianna-underwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360576\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver, 72, arrested in NYC hit-and-run that killed ex-Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 72-year-old man who insisted he \u201cdid nothing wrong\u201d when he fatally struck former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood<\/a> as she crossed a Brooklyn street at the start of the year has been arrested for the alleged hit-and-run death several months later. <\/p>\n

Michael Griffiths was cuffed Tuesday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident with injury, the NYPD said.<\/p>\n

Former child actress Kianna Underwood, 33, was killed in a hit-and-run in Brownsville, Brooklyn on Jan. 16. Obtained by NYPost<\/p>\n

Griffiths\u2019 arrest comes eight months after Underwood, 33, was plowed down by two vehicles in Brownsville<\/a> around 6:50 a.m. on Jan. 16.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage obtained by The Post showed Underwood crossing against the light at Watkins Street and Pitkin Avenue when a Ford SUV crossed the double yellow line into the opposite lane to pass a stopped car ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The SUV hit Underwood in the crosswalk, sending her flying across the intersection.<\/p>\n

Kianna Underwood featured in Nickelodeon\u2019s \u201cAll That\u201d in 2005.<\/p>\n

The former child star was then run over by a second black and gray sedan<\/a> that dragged her \u201cseveral hundred feet,\u201d a police source told The Post at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was discovered with severe trauma at the intersection of Osborn Street and Pitkin Avenue, and was pronounced dead at the scene, cops and sources said.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old former actress died at the scene. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

Griffiths told the New York Daily News in late January<\/a> he recalled hitting \u201csomething\u201d when his 2021 black Ford Explorer struck Underwood \u2014 but insisted he \u201cdid nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time it was a little bit darkish. I was going to work\u2026It felt like I hit something, and I pulled over and stopped,\u201d he told the publication.<\/p>\n

Griffiths told the paper he pulled over after he hit Underwood and \u201csaw another car hit the person and started dragging the person.\u201d<\/p>\n

A police source told The Post at the time Underwood was dragged \u201cseveral hundred feet\u201d by the second vehicle. Obtained by NYPost<\/p>\n

He said he then got out of the car and, with other bystanders, tried to flag down the second vehicle, which fled the scene.<\/p>\n

Griffiths said he then left to take his medication and \u201cfelt like I was going to faint when the incident happened,\u201d he told the Daily News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ex-Nickelodeon star had been struggling with homelessness in recent years, becoming a frequent sight on the Brownsville streets where she died. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

The elderly driver told the outlet that police had impounded his car \u2014 which had been ticketed for 41 violations, including 25 for speeding, according to records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Underwood, who appeared on the final season of the popular kids\u2019 sketch comedy show \u201cAll That\u201d in 2005, had been struggling with homelessness in recent years<\/a>, becoming a frequent sight on the Brownsville streets where she died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 72-year-old man who insisted he \u201cdid nothing wrong\u201d when he fatally struck former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3283,98,6616,254,1015,473,57,9,35545,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":["post-360576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-arrests","tag-brooklyn","tag-brownsville","tag-car-crashes","tag-deaths","tag-hit-and-run","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-nickelodeon","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}