Mom of NYC boy struck by moped says son will miss graduation

A mother whose 6-year-old son is lucky to be alive after a moped-like vehicle struck him in an East Harlem park said the 14-year-old suspect has “got to pay” the price for his actions.

Nereida Diaz Marin told The Post she’s grateful her little boy Henry is improving, but the family is crestfallen he will have to miss his kindergarten graduation on Monday.

Plans for a party have also been scrapped, the mom said.

“We went to Marshalls. We went to buy his clothes for that day, but things happened, and now he cannot go,” Diaz Marin said.

“The doctor told me he cannot go out, he cannot receive visitors, he cannot  stay in a place where there is a lot of noise. He has to stay home,” she said.

The child was hit inside Thomas Jefferson Park around 6:30 p.m. June 18 — Father’s Day — and rushed to Harlem Hospital in critical condition, authorities said. Henry suffered severe head trauma and was later diagnosed with a brain bleed and multiple skull fractures and moved to Columbia University Irving Medical Center, police said.

Cops collared the 14-year-old moped operator Thursday, slapping him with a juvenile charge for leaving the scene of an accident with a serious injury, cops said.

The young suspect — whose name was not released because of his age — was riding a “two-wheeled motorized vehicle” on a pedestrian walkway inside the park, at East 111th Street and First Avenue, when he struck the boy, police said. 

The alleged hit-and-run crash happened two days before the city lifted a ban Tuesday on e-bikes and scooters in its parks as part of a yearlong pilot program.

Henry was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and has begun to eat and talk more. However, he still feels pain in his arm and will require physical therapy.

“He’s doing good, thank God.There are times that he rarely walks because every time he stands up he gets dizzy,” the mom said.

Marin Diaz, who doesn’t want any motorized vehicles in city parks, was “happy” the suspect got caught but feels bad because he’s “only 14 years old and I know his mom is worried,” she said.

However, the teen has “got to pay for what he did,” the mom emphasized. “My husband and I would like to see that he [goes to] jail for the maximum time.”

Marin Diaz thought the suspect was “17 or 18,” but no matter the age, he should never have left the scene. “He just stood and when he heard the sirens, he saw the police, I think he took the chance to leave at that moment,” she said.