Michael Griffiths was arrested Tuesday in New York City and charged in the fatal Brooklyn hit-and-run that killed Kianna Underwood, 33. Police moved on the case eight months after the Jan. 16 crash in Brownsville.
The arrest adds a formal criminal case to a collision that left Underwood dead at the scene. Griffiths was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident with injury.
Watkins Street and Pitkin Avenue
Surveillance footage showed Underwood crossing against the light at Watkins Street and Pitkin Avenue around 6:50 a.m. A Ford SUV crossed the double yellow line into the opposite lane to pass a stopped car ahead, then hit her in the crosswalk.
A second black and gray sedan ran over Underwood and dragged her several hundred feet before she was discovered with severe trauma at Osborn Street and Pitkin Avenue. Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Michael Griffiths and the arrest
Griffiths said his 2021 black Ford Explorer struck Underwood. He told the New York Daily News in late January, "At the time it was a little bit darkish. I was going to work…It felt like I hit something, and I pulled over and stopped." He also said he "saw another car hit the person and started dragging the person."
In that same account, Griffiths said, "felt like I was going to faint when the incident happened" and that he left to take his medication after the crash. He also said police had impounded his car, which had been ticketed for 41 violations, including 25 for speeding. Earlier, he told The New York Post, "I did nothing wrong."
Kianna Underwood in Brooklyn
Underwood appeared on the final season of All That in 2005. She had been struggling with homelessness in recent years and was a frequent sight on the Brownsville streets where she died.
The arrest puts the case into the court system with the charges already filed. What led police to Griffiths eight months after the crash has not been laid out in the facts released with the arrest.
