Boone County deputies seek driver who struck child in hit-and-run; crash sparks safety concerns from neighbors
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone County deputies are asking for the public’s help in finding a driver who hit a 9-year-old girl and drove away Sunday night.
The child, who was taken to a hospital but was alert and talking at the scene, was crossing in the 700 block of Demaret Drive east of Columbia at about 6:45 p.m. when she was hit, said Boone County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Brian Leer. Witnesses said the vehicle was a red sedan, driven by a young woman, with a black dog inside, Leer said.
The vehicle drove away north on Hogan Drive.
“The vehicle may have sustained some damage to the front end, however, no debris or evidence from the vehicle was found at the scene,” Leer said.
Neighbors say speeding in the area is a common occurrence
The stretch of road where the 9-year-old girl was hit on Sunday is known to frequently have drivers speed by and roll through stop signs, according to neighbors.
Although the sheriff’s office hasn’t said if speeding contributed to the crash, neighbors said they wouldn’t be surprised if it was a factor. Kisha Benson recently moved to the area in November, but has seen drivers speeding down the road every day.
“Since I’ve been out here cars have been flying up and down the street. I yell at people all the time ‘slow down’,” Benson said.
Benson said she recalls seeing the little girl playing outside before leaving her home to go get food. She returned to see the fire department and deputies who had blocked a portion of the street off and later learned that the child had been hit.
Long before Sunday’s incident, Benson said she had already taken steps of her own to ensure safety. That includes placing orange traffic cones out in the area for her 13 grandchildren who commonly play basketball and ride their bikes. She’s now taking that one step further.
Benson said she’s planning to have people sign a petition and get in contact with the city to have speed bumps or signs in the area warning people of children playing.
“I hope they catch them (the suspect) and I hope they will at least think about putting some signs out here…something because there’s too many kids out here. There’s too many children,” Benson said. “I’m very concerned about it because I fear somebody is gonna fly through here and hit one of mine, and then we’re gonna have a problem.”
Resident Richard Summers is also new to the area, only having lived there for four months. Summers said he’s personally almost been hit by a vehicle more than once while trying to cross the street to get to his mailbox and has seen people speed and roll through a stop sign near Hogan Drive.
Summers said he frequently sees deputies patrolling the area, but thinks that if that happened more often, it could help with the speeding issue.
“Because the deputies are out here and they know if they come flying down there, they’re going to get popped,” Summers said. “So that’s why they act like little boys and girls when the cops are around but other than that, they fly up and down here like crazy people…these people ain’t got on common sense. What if it was their kid? How would they feel?”
Summers said he would also support adding speed bumps to the street and said he’s considering going to the city about his concerns. He noted the many children who live in the neighborhood and said he’s worried about children possibly getting hit while getting off the school bus or again, while playing outside.
However, he said the speeding problem may also become a problem for others in the area.
“What happens if somebody on any bike gets hit? We have a lot of people going up and down through here with bicycles and everything else and it’s just ridiculous,” Summers said. “Something needs to be done and soon or another kid’s gonna get hit. It isn’t fair to the families of the kids that are in the neighborhood. It’s not fair to this neighborhood.”
Benson also said people’s cars are frequently side swiped due to drivers that are speeding in the neighborhood. Several other neighbors in the area also said they don’t allow their children to play outside due to speeding.