A Boston neighborhood is reeling one day after a van jumped a curb and struck a 3-year-old boy in a stroller, killing him and injuring his 4-year-old sister.
A makeshift memorial was growing early Thursday for the boy, whose name has not been released, near East Sixth and L streets in South Boston, where a van and a car collided Wednesday afternoon and sent the van onto the sidewalk, the Boston Globe reports.
“It’s affecting everybody in the community,” Danielle Lake told the newspaper. “Parents and caregivers are out here all the time, walking with our kids. It’s just scary.”
Lake stopped at the memorial with her 2-year-old son, Miles, two of many neighborhood residents who placed stuffed animals and toys near the crash site.
Joe Nascarella, 36, said the dangerous intersection has long been problematic for the community.
“I just think this street has been crazy for some time now,” he told the newspaper. “This was bound to happen sooner or later.”
Another man who declined to provide his last name, identifying himself only as Chris, said the woman who pushed the boy’s stroller was his nanny. She also cared for the boy’s sister, he said.
“I used to see her walking with the two kids every day,” Chris said. “I would wave to hear, and she waves back. The kids always wave to me, too.”
The boy’s 4-year-old sister remains hospitalized but is expected to survive. The woman pushing the stroller was not hurt, WHDH reports.
Police Commissioner William Evans said the accident was a “terrible tragedy,” adding that both drivers stayed on the scene. Investigators were trying to locate witnesses on Wednesday, as well as to track down possible video surveillance of the crash, according to the Globe.
“It’s everybody’s worst nightmare,” Evans told reporters. “Our hearts go out to the parents.”
One motorist who said he witnessed the crash said he made eye contact with another driver and waved the woman through the intersection. The woman was drifting into the intersection when a van travelling north on L Street slammed into the car, according to the man, who declined to be identified.
“I thought it was going to slow down,” he told the Globe. “Next thing you know it rams into her car.”
Another man was even blunter in his assessment of the safety along the busy residential stretch of L Street.
“This street is insane,” said Robert Henry, 70. “It’s like the Indianapolis Speedway. They’re in a hurry to go nowhere.”
Susan Devlin, who owns a nearby salon, said she was shaken up after hearing the “very loud crash” and seeing someone try to save the boy by administering CPR.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in reality,” Devlin told the Boston Herald. “We saw the baby carriage and a woman screaming and we knew there was children involved. When you see something like that — it’s just devastating. Seeing a child laying on the sidewalk was devastating.”
