A 72-year-old man who previously insisted he “did nothing wrong” after fatally striking former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood in Brooklyn has been arrested months after the alleged hit-and-run crash.
Michael Griffiths was arrested Tuesday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, as well as leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, according to the NYPD.
The arrest came eight months after Underwood, 33, was hit by two vehicles in Brownsville at about 6:50 a.m. on Jan. 16.
Surveillance video obtained by The Post showed Underwood crossing Watkins Street at Pitkin Avenue against the traffic signal when a Ford SUV moved across the double yellow line to pass a stopped vehicle.
The SUV struck Underwood in the crosswalk, throwing her across the intersection.
The former child actor was then run over by a second black-and-gray sedan, which dragged her “several hundred feet,” a police source told The Post at the time.
Underwood was found suffering from severe trauma near Osborn Street and Pitkin Avenue. Police and other sources said she was pronounced dead at the scene.
MUST READ: Florida Dad Says Resort Trip Ruined After 3-Year-Old Finds Sex Toy
In an interview with the New York Daily News in late January, Griffiths said he remembered hitting “something” while driving his 2021 black Ford Explorer. He nevertheless maintained that he “did nothing wrong.”
“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,” Griffiths told the publication.
He said he stopped after the collision and watched as another vehicle struck Underwood and began dragging her.
According to Griffiths, he got out of his SUV and joined other bystanders in trying to signal the second driver to stop. That vehicle then sped away.
Griffiths said he left the area to take his medication because he “felt like I was going to faint when the incident happened,” he told the Daily News.
The elderly driver also said police impounded his vehicle. Records show the SUV had received 41 violations, including 25 speeding tickets.
Underwood appeared on the final season of the popular children’s sketch-comedy series “All That” in 2005. In recent years, she had struggled with homelessness and was often seen on the Brownsville streets where she was killed.
NEXT UP: Ohio Tragedy: Investigation Uncovers Ashley Flynn’s Possible Pregnancy at Time of Fatal Shooting