I know we've spent alot of time in the media and on Facebook the last few weeks about gun violence and the shooting at Sandy Hook. But what happened last week was no less horrendous and terrible.
**Graphic image alert below**
About 1 mile from my house, this little boy, his mother and his two year old sister (who was in a stroller) were crossing the street, in a crosswalk, at a light, with a crosswalk sign lit. They had the right of way and the light from the other direction had been red for a bout 14 seconds, which if you know anything about crosswalks, that's about as long as they say "walk" before the flashing hand pops up and says "Don't walk!" This happened about 7:30 at night, so it was dark, and this little boy got a few steps ahead of his mother, which we all know can happen with six year olds, and right then, a man in a black hatchback ran the red light and hit this little boy. The police think the little boy was on the hood of the car for about 100 yards. The car stopped, the boy fell off, the car honked, then sped away.
This boy was loved by many, many people. We ran into a mom the next day at the store, who was buying a teddy bear because her son was in his class and said he was a wonderful kid.
The really bad part of this is that this driver drove away and they don't know who it was. There was no way this driver didn't know what he did. He ran a red light, hit a child, drove with him on the car for 100 yards, then had the nerve to honk, and speed away. The car in the picture below, that is turning the corner, is the car they believe hit him.
You know, this wasn't something that was meditated, like Adam Lanza. But somehow, it seems just as sadistic, just as evil to me. The speed limit on that road is 35 miles an hour, and I have to say that in my experience around this area, people don't speed. In fact, they usually go slower, especially right in this area. There are lots of people who live here, in these apartments, who do not have cars and walk places. You have to pay attention to what you are doing. To hit a person, much less a child, then not even stop to make sure he's OK and HONK and speed away is just beyond the scope of my understanding. I just wonder what they are thinking now. Are they scared? Are they in shock? Or are they thinking they didn't do anything wrong?
This mother is just in shock, I've heard. To watch your child go through that, well, no words can describe that feeling. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. I just don't know how I could live through that horror and still keep going in life. And if I was the one who took the life of a child, because I wasn't being careful and ran a red light, well, prison isn't worse than the mental toll I'd put on myself. I just don't know how to ever forgive myself for that. Certainly makes me think twice before texting on your cell phone.
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