MIAMI (WSVN) – An 11-year-old boy is recovering in the hospital a day after he was hit by a car in a Miami Gardens neighborhood, prompting officers to arrest the driver, police said.<\/p>\n
Miami Gardens Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the wreck near the intersection of Northwest 188th Terrace and 12th Avenue, at around 8 a.m. on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Investigators said the driver of a black Ford Fusion was traveling southbound at a high rate of speed when he sweved onto the swale to avoid slow traffic.<\/p>\n
Surveillance video captured the victim and his cousin as they crossed the road. Moments later, another camera captures the Fusion as it veered off the roadway.<\/p>\n
Police said the driver struck a tree and then the victim. A surveillance captured audio of the moment of impact.<\/p>\n
The Fusion crashed into a chain-link fence outside of Rose Emile\u2019s home, located just south of a school zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was inside my house, I hear some noise. When I hear big noise like this, I say, \u2018Whats going on?’\u201d said Emile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard like a big bang, like, I don\u2019t know, like, explosion, I hear \u2018boom,’\u201d said witness Orlando Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Surveillance video captured neighbors and witnesses rushing to help, as well as the driver of the Fusion getting out of the car and putting his hands on his head as the reality of what he just did sets in.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter started getting emotional, can\u2019t stop crying, stuff like that. She said she knows the kid,\u201d said Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Lawrence was one of those who called 911.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first he wasn\u2019t responsive when I got out, just throwing water on his head and trying to, you know, big gash on his head,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
7 Drone Force later hovered above the scene, as the Fusion was seen against the fence with its driver\u2019s side air bag deployed.<\/p>\n
Emile said the car came to rest in her front yard, adding she came outside and spoke with the driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019 It\u2019s just a man who was doing the accident. He said, \u2018I\u2019m the one who do this, do the accident,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Police identified the driver as 23-year-old Darius Forbes.<\/p>\n
7News cameras captured the suspect, who was in handcuffs and wearing pajamas. He was placed in the back of a police car.<\/p>\n
A rescue helicopter landed near the campus of Miami Norland Senior High School and airlifted the young pedestrian to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he is being treated for a head injury.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s mother, Shakera Rolle, was seen walking alongside paramedics as they wheeled the boy into the hospital. She later spoke with 7News over the phone from her son\u2019s hospital room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was definitely traumatized when I got the phone call,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Rolle said her son, Johnny Baptiste Jr., was walking to school with his cousin like they do every morning. But this walk took a dangerous turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing OK, he\u2019s pretty banged up and bruised up. He has a small fracture on the right side of his forehead,\u201d said Rolle. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m just happy that, you know, it\u2019s not worse than what it could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of late Tuesday night, Baptiste is listed in serious but stable condition.<\/p>\n
Photos provided to 7News show the victim, who remains in the hospital with a fractured skull and pelvis.<\/p>\n
While her son recovers from his head injury, Rolle now questions if that walk to school is even safe at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I feel a little traumatized, because I tell him what to do: \u2018Walk on the sidewalk, cross where it\u2019s safe and everything, and I thought it was safe because there\u2019s a crossing guard there, and it\u2019s a school zone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Forbes was charged with reckless driving. He has since bonded out of jail.<\/p>\n
Rolle has a message to the driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just [want to] tell him that I\u2019m really hurt, about the whole situation. You know, my son was just on the way to school, and I just wish he paid more attention to the road, because there is a school zone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors said they want to see more police monitoring the speeding, especially during school hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlow down, because kids, they are playing and, you know, sometimes, I\u2019m gonna be walking across the street, you know, but it\u2019s always speeding, you know,\u201d said Lawrence.<\/p>\n
The Fusion was later towed away from the scene.<\/p>\n
Rolle said that her son could be released from the hospital on Wednesday or Thursday. Even though they live very close to his school, she said she probably won\u2019t let him walk to school anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not even comfortable with him walking to school, even if it\u2019s two blocks away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
An investigation into this crash continues.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n
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