Driver Arrested in Fatal Brooklyn Hit-and-Run of Ex-Nickelodeon Star

Michael Griffiths, 72, has been arrested and charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood, 33, in Brooklyn earlier this year. Griffiths faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident with injury.

Underwood was killed on January 16 in Brownsville when she was struck by two vehicles. Surveillance footage shows Underwood crossing Pitkin Avenue at Watkins Street against a traffic light when a Ford SUV crossed a double yellow line to pass a stopped vehicle and collided with her. The impact sent her across the intersection, where a second vehicle, a black and gray sedan, then struck her and dragged her for several hundred feet, according to a police source.

She was found with severe injuries at the intersection of Osborn Street and Pitkin Avenue and pronounced dead at the scene. At the time of the incident, police stated that the first vehicle, a 2021 black Ford Explorer, had stopped briefly before continuing on. Griffiths later told the New York Daily News in late January that he recalled hitting "something" but maintained he had "done nothing wrong."

Griffiths told the publication that he pulled over after hitting Underwood and observed another vehicle strike her and drag her away. He stated that he and bystanders attempted to flag down the fleeing vehicle. He also said he left the scene to take medication, describing feeling as though he was going to faint.

Griffiths' vehicle had reportedly been cited for 41 violations, including 25 for speeding, according to records. Underwood, who appeared in the 2005 season of Nickelodeon's sketch comedy show "All That," had been experiencing homelessness in recent years and was a familiar figure on the streets of Brownsville.