DETROIT – On Monday, the Local 4 Defenders spoke with the outraged Metro Detroit father of a little girl who was struck by a vehicle.
The driver of that vehicle stopped at the scene, picked the girl up and then handed the child to neighbors.
It all happened in a Detroit neighborhood on Addison Street.
Video footage of the incident is heartbreaking. It shows the excited 7-year-old girl with a dollar in her hand walking down the steps of a front porch and onto the street.
The reason for that is an ice cream truck was there. She was struck by an oncoming SUV. As a result the impact sent her tumbling down the street.
The driver got out and picked up the girl and handed her to a neighbor.
Then the driver backed up so no one could see his plate and left the scene. The father said his daughter is out of the hospital with scrapes on her face and head. She did not suffer any major injuries.
“They checked her in the hospital. Everything is going to be fine,” the father told Local 4 News.
What is not fine is the driver backing away after hitting the little girl. He thought the driver would stop and call 911.
“I was thinking he would call an ambulance or something like that,” said the father.
The street the child was struck on has new speed bumps and lots of children.
Drivers have to slow way down and watch for kids knowing they might not be watching for vehicles.
“Even when they are up on the sidewalk we still are not safe,” said Ali Musa, a neighbor.