NEW YORK \u2014 A 72-year-old man was arrested for the fatal crash that killed former Nickelodeon child star Kianna Underwood in Brooklyn, cops said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Michael Griffiths, who told the Daily News that he did \u201cnothing wrong\u201d during the fatal crash, was indicted on leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and other charges for striking Underwood with his SUV and then continuing without stopping, police said.<\/p>\n
Underwood, 33, had a recurring role in the Nickelodeon show \u201cAll That\u201d as a child, had fallen on hard times before her death, and had struggled with substance abuse and homelessness, friends and former co-stars said.<\/p>\n
She was struck and dragged for two blocks by a black sedan heading west on Pitkin Ave. as she tried to cross the roadway near Mother Gaston Blvd. in Brownsville about 6:50 a.m. on Jan. 16, cops said.<\/p>\n
Griffiths was released without bail after pleading not guilty at his arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court Tuesday. He\u2019s due back in court to answer the charges on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n
In an interview just days after the deadly crash, Griffiths told The News that he was behind the wheel of the 2021 black Ford Explorer that cops say struck Underwood in Brownsville.<\/p>\n
He said a second motorist involved dragged the victim more than two blocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did nothing wrong,\u201d the septuagenarian said, tearing up at times as he spoke. \u201cAt the time it was a little bit darkish. I was going to work. \u2026 It felt like I hit something, and I pulled over and stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to police, Griffith\u2019s SUV struck Underwood after veering over the double yellow line while heading west on Pitkin Ave as he maneuvered around a turning vehicle at Mother Gaston Blvd. Underwood was in the crosswalk but crossing against the light, cops said.<\/p>\n
After being struck by Griffiths, Underwood was run over and dragged for more than two blocks by a black-and-gray sedan, cops said.<\/p>\n
Underwood died at the scene.<\/p>\n
Griffiths says that before leaving the scene, he got out of his SUV and joined good Samaritans who tried to flag the second driver down. He then left before police arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if he saw, or what,\u201d he said of the other driver. \u201cOnly reason I leave is because I had to take my medication,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like I was going to faint when the incident happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
But cops said it took days to track Griffiths down and that he refused to answer their questions, telling them to speak to his lawyer, a police source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came here and spoke to me, and they took my vehicle,\u201d Griffiths said of the cops. \u201cMy lawyer said not to speak to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vehicle has in the past been ticketed for 41 violations, 25 of them for speeding, records show.<\/p>\n
A New York City native, Underwood had film and TV credits from the late \u201990s and early 2000s. She was only 6 years old when she made her first film appearance with the 1999 theatrical release of \u201cThe 24 Hour Woman,\u201d according to her IMDB.<\/p>\n
She appeared in seven episodes of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy show\u00a0\u201cAll That\u201d, alongside Amanda Bynes and Kenan Thompson. She also joined the first national tour of \u201cHairspray\u201d as little Inez, and had a minor role in \u201cDeath of a Dynasty,\u201d a comedy about the hip-hop industry starring Kevin Hart.<\/p>\n
Her first starring role was in \u201cLittle Bill,\u201d an animated children\u2019s series created by Bill Cosby for Nick Jr., in which she voiced the titular character\u2019s cousin, Fuchsia Glover.<\/p>\n
In November 2023, Underwood\u2019s fellow \u201cAll That\u201d alumnus Angelique Bates said on Instagram that her former co-star was homeless and needed help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what the whole situation is. You don\u2019t know if there\u2019s addiction. You don\u2019t know if there\u2019s mental illness. You don\u2019t know what is at play right now,\u201d she said, adding that fundraising wouldn\u2019t be enough. \u201cThere has to be a plan to make sure that they\u2019re getting all the proper assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 A 72-year-old man was arrested for the fatal crash that killed former Nickelodeon child star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[531,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-360728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-national","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360728","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=360728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}