Toddler Recovering After Being Hit By Police SUV In Roxbury
BOSTON (CBS) - A toddler is home recovering after she was hit by a Boston Police SUV in Roxbury Monday evening. Neighbors heard the baby girl's mother scream for help from the street. Once they looked out to see what happened, they realized the people they'd call, were already here.
"My heart just stopped because I heard 'My baby! My baby got hit!'" neighbor Joanne Dunlap said.
Surveillance video from a liquor store on Shawmut Ave. catches the moment the Boston Police cruiser starts to pull away without realizing a one-year-old baby girl had made her way into the street.
"She was so tiny. I mean no one could have saw her," Dunlap added.
"I don't know if he saw the girl," Ana Lendor explained.
Neighbors believe her mother was trying to load up the car when it happened.
Luckily the toddler is expected to make a full recovery.
"She's doing OK, she's doing alright. We just ask for a speedy recovery," the girl's mother said.
The man seen rushing over in the video to help didn't let the baby girl go until the ambulance arrived.
"She had some scuffs on her, tire marks on her, she was bleeding on her arms, scratched, gashes, tire prints on her body and I just held her until the ambulance came," Chris Pendigrast explained.
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross says the investigation so far is finding this was an accident.
"I am glad to hear that the young girl involved in last night's incident is recuperating from her injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. Investigators continue to investigate this incident, although preliminary findings are leading to this being an accident. The Boston Police Department works hard every day to keep residents safe, and I can tell you that this is any police officers' worst nightmare. I ask for everyone to keep the young girl and her family in our thoughts as she recovers."
Neighbors say they could see the officer was visibly upset.
"You could tell he was just in shock and I think he was actually crying," Dunlap said.
While neighbors aren't pointing the finger at anyone, they say this should serve as a reminder.
"People treat them as small adults and they shouldn't it only takes a quick second," Dunlap added.
The incident is still under investigation. The toddler is at home recovering.