Friends, family of teen who lost leg in hit-and-run crash hold rally to call for justice
Friends and family of Joshua Mora, the 13-year-old who was struck by a motorcyclist while crossing the street in Boyle Heights in late-March, gathered to call for justice on Saturday as authorities still search for the suspect who fled without helping the teenager.
They could be heard chanting "Justice for Josh! Justice for Josh!" throughout Saturday afternoon while standing at the intersection of Whittier Boulevard and Orme Avenue — the spot where Mora was hit by an unknown motorcyclist on March 30.
Mora was in the crosswalk when he was struck, and Los Angeles Police Department officers who reviewed security footage from the scene noted that the driver slammed into him and slid on the ground for about 80 feet before getting back on his bike and riding away, leaving Mora in the road with severe injuries.
"This is trauma that is happening," Mora's mother Maria Guadalupe Segura said in Spanish while speaking at the protest. "I do not desire this to happen to any family. It's very difficult to deal with."
She was among the many rallying for the suspect to be brought to justice on Saturday. So far, police note that they have some leads, but haven't determined exactly who the motorcyclist is.
They do know, however, that he was riding a black motorcycle that would now have considerable damage after the collision.
Mora's injury is far from the first to happen on the one-mile stretch of Whittier Boulevard between South Boyle Avenue and South Lorena Street. According to the Transportation Injury Mapping System, between 2013 and 2022 there were 225 crashes resulting in injury or death.
"Enough is enough," said Damian Kevitt, the founder of the non-profit organization Streets are for Everyone. "People need to slow down."
Kevitt founded the organization after he too became an amputee following a crash back in 2013. He says that people have been pleading with elected officials to put safety cameras and security devices at the exact crosswalk where Mora was injured for years with nothing to show for it.
He knows that while Saturday's rally may get the message across to drivers, the message needs to make its way to the government level so that actually change may come.
"If one of our council members, our mayor, even a governor — if they had a child who was impacted at this crosswalk, how long would change happen?" asked Mora's teacher Frank Aguilar. "How long would the time be before we saw results?"
As he continues to recover, family members have set up a GoFundMe to help assist with Joshua's medical expenses. The fundraiser can be found by searching for the keywords: "Joshua Mora's Medical Expenses."