MIAMI (WSVN) – Rescue crews airlifted an 11-year-old to the hospital after the young pedestrian was hit by a car in a Miami Gardens neighborhood, prompting officers to arrest the driver, police said.
Miami Gardens Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the wreck near the intersection of Northwest 188th Street and 12th Avenue, at around 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
Investigators said the driver of a black Ford Fusion was traveling southbound at a high rate of speed when he drove on the swale to avoid slow traffic.
MGPD officials have identified the driver as 23-year-old Darius Forbes.
Seconds later, police said, Forbes struck a tree and then the victim, who was walking on the sidewalk.
A surveillance camera captured audio of the moment of impact.
A rescue helicopter landed near the campus of Miami Norland Senior High School and airlifted the young victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he is being treated for a head injury.
The victim’s mother, Shakera Rolle, spoke with 7News about her experience after the incident from the hospital.
“I was definitely traumatized when I got the phone call,” she said.
She said her young boy was walking to school with his cousin like they do every morning. But this one turned into a nightmare.
“He’s doing OK, he’s pretty banged up and bruised up. He has a small fracture on the right side of his forehead,” said Rolle.
Back at the scene, Forbes’ car crashed into a chain-link fence outside of Rose Emile’s home, located just south of a school zone.
“I was inside my house, I hear some noise. When I hear big noise like this, I say, ‘Whats going on?’” said Emile.
“I heard like a big bang, like, I don’t know, like, explosion, I hear ‘boom,’” said witness Orlando Lawrence.
7 Drone Force hovered above the scene, as the Fusion was seen against the fence with its driver’s side air bag deployed.
Emile said the car came to rest in her front yard, adding she came outside and spoke with the driver.
“I said, ‘What’s going on?’ It’s just a man who was doing the accident. He said, ‘I’m the one who do this, do the accident,’” she said.
7News cameras captured Forbes, who was in handcuffs, wearing pajamas. He was placed in the back of a police car.
According to neighbors, the child who was hit is in elementary school.
“My daughter started getting emotional, can’t stop crying, stuff like that. She said she knows the kid,” said Lawrence.
Lawrence was one of those who called 911.
“At first he wasn’t responsive when I got out, just throwing water on his head and trying to, you know, big gash on his head,” he said.
As of late Tuesday night, the boy is listed in serious but stable condition.
A photo provided to 7News shows the victim, Johnny Baptiste Jr., who remains in the hospital with a fractured skull and pelvis.
Rolle now has a message to the driver.
“I just [want to] tell him that I’m really hurt, about the whole situation. You know, my son was just on the way to school. I just wish he paid more attention to the road, because there is a school zone,” she said.
While her son recovers from his head injury, Rolle now questions if that walk to school is even safe at all.
“I thought it was safe because there’s a crossing guard there, and its a school zone, so now I’m not even comfortable with him walking to school even if its two blocks away,” she said.
Forbes is charged with reckless driving.
Neighbors said they want to see more police monitoring the speeding, especially during school hours.
“Slow down, because kids, they are playing and, you know, sometimes, I’m gonna be walking across the street, you know, but it’s always speeding, you know,” said Lawrence.
The sedan has since been towed away from the scene.
Rolle said that her son could be released from the hospital tomorrow.
An investigation into this crash continues.
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