Suspect in Brooklyn fatal hit and run surrenders, police say

A suspect in the deadly hit-and-run accident that took the life of a 12-year-old girl and injured her sister and mother Wednesday afternoon surrendered to police, a police official said Thursday.

Detectives in Brooklyn's 62nd Precinct arrested Robert DeCarlo, 26, after he walked into the station house at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, an NYPD spokesman said. Charges against DeCarlo were pending as of late Thursday.

Police had earlier identified DeCarlo, of 114 Avenue U in the Flatlands area, as a suspect based on a video involving the earlier theft of the 2005 Dodge Caravan, which jumped the curb near the intersection of Flatlands Avenue and East 46th Street and struck the three victims.

The accident killed Joey Sellers and injured her 9-year-old sister and their 38-year-old mother. They remained in critical condition Thursday at Kings County Hospital Center, police said.

DeCarlo fled the scene of the accident, witnesses and police said. But the law enforcement official, who didn't want to be identified, said that detectives traced the location in Brooklyn from which the Caravan had been stolen and retrieved video images of DeCarlo. A confidential police informant recognized DeCarlo by his nickname of "DeNiro" or "Dinero," said the source, explaining that the name was an apparent reference to the suspect's resemblance to actor Robert De Niro as a younger man.

Detectives searched through a street name database and identified DeCarlo, who had a previous arrest record, an official said.