Mother Facing Charges After 6-Year-Old Boy Struck By Vehicle On Route 51
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CHIPPEWA TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A 6-year-old boy remains in the hospital and his mother is facing charges after he was struck by a vehicle while crossing a highway in Beaver County.
According to police, the child was struck around 6:30 a.m. along a dark and foggy Route 51 in Chippewa Township on Tuesday morning.
The boy was said to be walking with his 11-year-old sister near Shenango Road, when he allegedly darted out into the road and was struck by a Volkswagen Jetta.
"She indicated they were walking, and when they stopped along the rock quarry there, there's a little drain system, and the 6-year-old just took off out onto the street," said Chippewa Police Assistant Chief Eric Hermick. "The motorist didn't have the opportunity to prevent the crash."
Police say the youngsters would walk from a house on Darlington Road, through a nearby parking lot, down a hillside and then cross state Route 51. The two even had to climb over or under a wire guard rail.
"It's my understanding they were displaced from their permanent address and they were staying with a friend or family on Darlington Road, and for a little over a week, they were taking this trip from the house," Assistant Chief Hermick said.
The children were trying to get to the Giant Eagle parking lot across the highway.
"They normally have a family member or relative pick them up in a vehicle there and drive them down to the city of Beaver Falls. It's basically the procedure they had set up to get to their charter school in Baden," said Assistant Chief Hermick.
The boy was flown to the hospital in serious condition. He is now listed in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
The driver who hit the boy was fully cooperative.
Meanwhile, charges will be filed against the child's mother, 31-year-old Chavaun Bolton. She will face two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Police are still trying to determine why the kids were trying to cross the street alone, and why the family friend did not pick them up at the house where they were staying.