Residents Call For More Safety Measures After Car Hits 9-Year-Old Boy In Marine Park, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A collision in Brooklyn left a 9-year-old boy lying in the street and his mother screaming for help Friday morning.
As CBS2's Jessica Borg reported, residents in Marine Park have long complained about inadequate safety measures on the street.
"It's like a speedway," resident Pam Pollicino said.
Around 8:30 a.m., the boy was walking with his mother to the bus stop on Ryder Street near Avenue P. That's when a black sedan turning from Ryder Street onto the avenue was slammed by a white box truck, police said.
The car was hit with such force, it spun around, crossed Avenue P and ended up jumping the curb, hitting the fourth grader.
"I just heard like a big loud bang, and then I heard shrieking, and I knew that something had happened," a witness told 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon.
The woman who lives down the street from the crash said it was terrifying to know that the boy was waiting for the bus when he was hit.
"I have three little boys, and I'm petrified every time I go to the corner that something like that could happen to them," she said.
"They took him to the trauma center, and his ear was bleeding," another witness said.
Long-time residents like Pollicino said more stop signs are needed on Avenue P to slow drivers down and keep kids in the community safe.
"The Jewish schools, they all congregate on corners as the buses come to pick them up. So there's always a cluster of kids standing on corners," she said.
Residents told Borg that a few weeks ago, there was a two-car collision one street over on Kimball Street and Avenue P.
The avenue is often bustling with school buses and young families, and residents complain speeding drivers can go four long blocks without a single stop sign or traffic light to slow them down.
"There's no four-way stop sign. So when you're coming down the street, you have to kind of creep out, but you can't tell how fast someone is coming down the street, because they're so short," one woman said.
Skhy LoBianco proposed a solution.
"A school safety agent, a crossing guard, or something like that," she said.
Both vehicles involved in Friday morning's crash stopped at the scene, and the boy is expected to be OK.
A neighbor's surveillance camera recorded the accident, and detectives are reviewing it as part of their investigation.
