The 8-year-old Bronx boy tragically killed by a family friend attempting to park Monday was a relative of 1999 police shooting victim Amadou Diallo, his grieving relatives said Tuesday.

The family of third-grader Cellou Diallo is from the same West African tribe in Guinea as Amadou, who was killed Feb. 4, 1999, when four NYPD officers fired 41 shots at him, thinking he had a gun. Amadou was holding his wallet at the time.

Cellou’s father’s cousin was married to Amadou’s mother, family members said.

“He wanted to live. He wanted to travel,” 26-year-old Maimouna Diallo, one of Cellou’s three siblings, said of her little brother Tuesday. “He wanted to know everything. If he doesn’t know, he would ask. He was full of curiosity.”

Cellou was about a block away from his home on Holland Avenue in the Williamsbridge section of The Bronx when he was fatally struck by a van driven by his neighbor.

The 34-year-old neighbor had just picked up Cellou and her own children from an after-school program at PS 41 when she was parking the car on East 215th Street around 6:05 p.m.

Witnesses said all of the kids had gotten out of the car, and Cellou then noticed that the van’s wheel was still on the curb.

“The little boy said, ‘You’re not parked good, your wheel is still on the curb,’ ” said witness Sharon Martin, 40. “[The driver] said, ‘Stay on the sidewalk, and let me park properly.’ ”

The driver then lost control of the vehicle as she reversed into the parking spot, mounted the curb and struck Cellou, pinning him against a small cement wall in front of a building, police said.

The motorist was not arrested. The incident is still being investigated by the NYPD’s Highway Patrol Collision Investigation Squad.

“She was very hysterical when she called us,” Maimouna said of the driver, who lives below the family in the same building.

“She is feeling guilty. Our kids play together. They go to the same school, the same after-school program — they do everything together,” Maimouna said, adding: “She watches all the kids when no one is here to watch them.”
Maimouna, the oldest sibling of Cellou’s, said: “We forgive her.

“She did something out of kindness, and it turns out bad. Her kids were in the car, too. It could have been her own kids.

“We pick each other’s kids up. She didn’t do it maliciously. We are all from Guinea. She is our own family.”

The heartbroken sister said she feels “empty” over her brother’s death and vowed that Cellou “will never be forgotten.”

Cellou’s father, Alpha Diallo, said Cellou was an honor student who aced his math exams.

“He was very smart,” Alpha said.

Cellou’s 11-year-old brother, Thierno Souleymane, called Cellou his “best friend.

“We did everything together — we played video games, played outside,” Thierno said. “I just can’t believe it. I cried. I’m going to miss him.”

Additional reporting by Stephanie Pagones