9-year-old girl still in critical condition after being hit by car in Northwest Baltimore alongside brother

BALTIMORE -- A 9-year-old girl continues to fight for her life after a crash in Northwest Baltimore sent her and her 22-year-old brother to the hospital.

Investigators believe a school bus collided with a Ford Focus around 9 a.m. at Oakfield Avenue and Liberty Heights Avenue, sending the car into the two pedestrians. 

Both the girl and her brother, a 22-year-old man, were hospitalized in critical condition. The man was listed in critical but stable condition as of Monday morning, but his current condition is unknown. 

Today, the focus turns to safety along Liberty Heights Avenue. Neighborhood residents say that the busy street has posed a problem for them for years.

The big question among neighborhood residents is how they can make the busy street safer for people who live in the area, pedestrians, and drivers.

"Oh, absolutely there's a speed problem," Rahsheda Flowers, who lives on Liberty Heights Avenue, said. "We've been asking them to put up a stop sign or a streetlight, and I know it's hard because I know there—one right here and another one on Berwyn (street)—but something has to be done."  

A man who witnessed the crash while he was working nearby told WJZ reporter Stephon Dingle he performed CPR on a young girl at the scene.  

"Don't die, don't die, we (have) enough going on in this city," he said, recounting his rescue effort. "It's enough death in this city. It's a horrible situation. Baby girl, survive this for your family. That's the only thing that was going through my head, that's all I was saying the whole time."

Amonra claimed someone ran a stop sign before the crash. 

"Well, we saw somebody fly through the stop sign, slammed into one car and that other car hit the crowd," he said. 

People at the scene said the 9-year-old girl was a student at a nearby elementary school. Schools in the area of the crash include Liberty Elementary School and Forest Park High School. 

The drivers of both vehicles were uninjured. 

WJZ talked with the Baltimore Police to check on the frequency of accidents along the stretch of Liberty Heights where the crash occurred—and they reveal that since May of 2022 police have been dispatched to at least four crashes. Only one of those crashes yielded an injury.