The man charged in a deadly Schenectady hit-and-run involving an 8-year-old boy was in court Tuesday morning.

29-year-old Conroy Simpson is out on $500,000 bond. With his family there in support, and his attorney by his side, he appeared before Judge Carl Falotico in Schenectady City Court.

It was a preliminary hearing. The case now moves to county court.

Simpson is facing charges of leaving the scene of a deadly accident, a class D felony, and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.

“My client is an individual that has no criminal history,” said Jasper Mills, Simpson’s attorney. “He’s a family man. He has children of his own. What you need to know is that there’s no way, shape, or form that my client would have ever done anything with any intention to anybody, especially a kid.”

Simpson is accused of being the driver in the deadly crash on Wednesday night at Chrisler Avenue and Crane Street in Schenectady that killed an eight-year- old boy. Police say Simpson left the scene, and that a short time later, they located the car in the Woodlawn area and arrested him.

His attorney says he never tried to evade police and always cooperated fully.

“He had no idea until police contacted him,” said Mills. “He gave police the address where he was located and he sat there and waited for them to show up.”

The boy has been identified by family as 8-year-old Zion Delancy.

Funeral services were held Tuesday for him at Light’s Funeral Home.

Mills says Simpson lives and works in Schenectady. He describes his client as heartbroken.

“This has traumatized him for the rest of his life and I’m not trying to minimize the effect that this has had on the family because this should have never happened. Ever. Not in a million years.”