Hamtramck community speaking out after another child is hit by car
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Community members are calling for more after another child was struck by a vehicle in Hamtramck in over a month.
A woman said she jumped into action after hearing a child hit by a car right outside her art studio and the Hamtramck Police Department. The child is reportedly expected to be OK, but the community knows all too well how tragic these accidents can be.
"I heard their mother's wail immediately, so without even looking to see I just flew down the stairs to see what had happened," said local artist Kayce Gifford.
Gifford couldn't mistake the cries of a fellow mother in need back on Aug. 12.
"They allowed me to help and grabbed a hot towel to keep the child's head wound shut," she said.
She claims a young child was hit by a vehicle right outside her art studio. Thankfully, the child only came out of the incident with some stitches and bruises, according to Gifford, and it served as a reminder to be ready for anything behind the wheel in Hamtramck.
"Coming up this one-way street, there's a lovely little park over there, and I saw a boy drop a ball and the ball go into the street. Thankfully the parents had them, so if you're going to be traveling, you have to be safe and aware that there are people everywhere here," she said.
Gifford isn't the only one who says incidents like these in Hamtramck give them a bit of anxiety behind the wheel.
"The children are too much. The streets are not like Warren or Detroit. It's so close and the neighborhoods as well. I hope that the families and the community teach the kids how to pass the street and how to walk in the road," said Hamtramck resident Shuja Aldeen Osama.
That's something Hamtramck police chief Jamiel Altaheri made a priority after a 3-year-old girl was killed while crossing the street back on July 16.
"We started our first Hamtramck Police Youth Academy. A lot of those kids are from the ages of 12-15. If you look at a lot of our collisions or "crashes" we call them, a lot of those crashes involve kids around those ages," Altaheri said.
Altaheri emphasized the importance of reporting these incidents, no matter how severe, as the city works to prevent them from happening again.