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Boy, 11, dies in DWI horror

Mom rips 'murderer'

Vasean Phillip Alleyne with his mother Monique Dixon
A Queens boy run over by an alleged drunken driver died of his injuries yesterday, as his heartbroken family branded the man behind the wheel a "murderer."

Loved ones of Vasean Phillip Alleyne are outraged that under current state law, alleged killer motorist John Wirta can't be charged with homicide or get more than a year in prison.

"The city that we live in, the law says he is not a murderer," the child's mother, Monique Dixon, told the Daily News.

"Well, I tell you what. He most certainly is, because my son is dead now. I woke up this morning without a child."

Vasean and best buddy Angel Reyes, both 11, were struck by Wirta's Ford van as they crossed 73rd St. in Kew Gardens Hills on Friday night.

"Mom, mom, mom," Vasean moaned before lapsing into a coma, witnesses said.

"The neighbors rang my bell and started screaming," Dixon said.

Choked with emotion, she paused to remember the bright seventh-grader who wanted to be a lawyer, who was headed home to pick up pajamas for a sleepover when he was killed.

"He would have been 12 on Dec. 16," she said. "I was blessed by every second of every minute of every hour I had with him."

Vasean died several hours after the crash, while Angel was still hospitalized last night in stable condition with head injuries, officials said.

"They tried to stop the bleeding, but he went into cardiac arrest," Dixon said of her son.

Wirta, 56, who police said had a blood-alcohol content well above the legal limit, was arraigned on two counts of driving while intoxicated and freed on $5,000 bail.

The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of 12 months behind bars.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that because there is no evidence of "aggravating factors" such as speeding, the law bars him from seeking a harsher penalty.

"This case is another example of the lethal consequences resulting from driving while intoxicated," the frustrated prosecutor said.

"It deserves to be treated with greater seriousness than the law presently allows."

Even Wirta's lawyer, Anthony Rattoballi - while insisting his client is innocent - said it's "surprising" that his client wasn't in more trouble.

"I can understand their feelings," he said of Vasean's outraged relatives. "I think my client would say that, too."

The News has been campaigning to toughen the law so that killer drivers are accountable for their actions, but any change will come too late for Vasean's shattered family.

"He takes one kid's life, he almost takes another, and you take his license away from him," the boy's stepfather, Dwight Thompson, 31, said in disgust.