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Mountain Home News

Young girl injured when hit by car in crosswalk

Thursday, May 28, 2009

A 12-year-old girl was transported to Elmore Medical Center after she was struck by a car on Main Street early Thursday afternoon.

The young girl was treated and released that day.

According the Mountain Home Police, the girl was in the crosswalk at Main and Jackson streets, and had just passed the center lane on Main Street when she was struck by the mirror of a mini-van as it passed her.

The van was driven by Maria Tapia, 40, who told authorities she thought there was room for her to pass.

The crosswalk is marked with the yellow in-road signs that tell drivers they must stop if a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. According to state law, vehicles must do more than yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, they must actually come to a stop until the pedestrian clears the crosswalk.

The accident remains under investigation, but Tapia was initially cited by police for failure to purchase a drivers' license. No further details were immediately available.

Police Sgt. Rick Viola noted that at this time of year, with school letting out, drivers should be particularly careful of pedestrians, especially children.

He also urged drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians "wherever you see them," whether or not they are in a crosswalk on the street.

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  • No Drivers License and hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk...Just disgusting. I sure hope that young girl is OK. We're pulling for ya sweetie.

    -- Posted by riverboy on Thu, May 28, 2009, at 5:50 PM
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    I agree with Riverboy. Just disgusting how this person had no license and not only put herself in danger but many others as well. I sure hope that the book is thrown at her for her actions.

    -- Posted by B Mullen on Thu, May 28, 2009, at 7:12 PM

  • OMG "there was enough room to pass a pedestrian" simply amazing. Two things here: be more creative in your excuses or DO NOT DRIVE period. No license most likely means no insurance which means that family of the girl could be in desperate straits soon. Utterly disgusting and only in Smallville.

    -- Posted by SoThisIsSmallville on Thu, May 28, 2009, at 10:51 PM

  • Please try not to focus your dissatisfaction with the town you currently live in on an incident that has been repeated SEVERAL times in a nearby city...and with much deadlier results. This is the first report of something like this in MH in the few years that I've been reading the online news, while at the same time there have been several children killed in Boise by vehicles in crosswalks.

    -- Posted by Manshima on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 12:21 AM

  • Sorry Manshima, but those signs are there because people have been getting hit for years. I personally witnessed one on American Legion in the early part of the 07-08 school year. If I remember correctly, there were a few that year.

    Those signs are there to remind people of the laws and try to prevent what has happened in Boise from happening here.

    -- Posted by acomment on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 12:40 AM

  • Sorry for the misunderstanding: I know/agree/understand about the signs. I was commenting on a previous poster who said "Only in Smallville". It struck me as a derogatory comment about our small town, which I felt the need to defend.

    The crosswalk signs are more than visible - you have to pay close attention to avoid hitting them. There is no excuse for ignoring them and the individual who struck the girl should be held accountable for her transgression.

    On a side note - parents, please remind your children that crosswalks (and crossing the street in general) is not a time to play 'chicken' with cars. There have been NUMEROUS times that my wife has crept down 10th street under 10 MPH because kids just out from school would run out in front of her unexpectantly, or walk down the middle of the street holding up traffic.

    -- Posted by Manshima on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 9:15 AM

  • Drivers get impatient for some reason and that's when stuff like this happens. I was turning right onto Am Leg at the Maverik one afternoon and was waiting for a young child to finish crossing in the crosswalk, and a driver behind me kept honking their horn at me and jerking their car closer and closer to mine in an effort (I assume) to intimidate me to "get going". Only after the little girl cleared the road and walked passed the car behind me did they realize what idiots they were being and they backed off. Kids are small. Kids are hard to see. Give them the space and time they need to be safe. There isn't anything so important that we have to be at that justifies endangering lives like that.

    -- Posted by tllupton on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 4:07 PM

  • They need to put her in jail for attempted negigent something, no drivers license, and for not giving the pedestrian the right of way. I may be wrong, but I also will bet she had no insurance. Makes you want to meet the driver doesn't it? Glad it wasn't my kid. Put enough people in jail or bail, go to court and fine them some of this stuff might be discouraged.

    On top of the fine, and jail/bail the person should do a community service of; you guessed it -"Crosswalk Gurard."

    -- Posted by midea on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 6:51 PM

  • What happened to the little girl is horrible, and I am sure it is even harder on the parents... what I do not get is why she thought she could pass the little girl safely, one: she is in the wrong because it was a crosswalk, the little girl had the right away, and two: the fact that she does not have a license, and more then likely no insurance makes it even more her fault. People start using your brains we have laws to protect people not to get them hurt. Follow the law and no one will be hurt or killed or anything....

    and to the little girls family I hope all is well with her and that she comes out of this with a smile...

    -- Posted by Againstviolence on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 8:05 PM

  • Where were the child's parents? Why was she crossing a busy road without supervision?

    -- Posted by devil's_advocate on Mon, Jun 1, 2009, at 10:34 PM

  • Prayers for the little girl. Prosecute the driver.

    -- Posted by BruceGibson on Tue, Jun 2, 2009, at 12:25 PM

  • Devil's advocate,

    Really? Do you really think a 12yr old needs supervision to cross the street at a crosswalk in a 25mph zone?

    -- Posted by riverboy on Tue, Jun 2, 2009, at 1:43 PM

  • Yes, by all means blame the child who was afterall in a crosswalk! Forget the fact that the person who hit the child should not have been behind the wheel. Darn kids who try to cross a street where cars SHOULD stop no matter who is waiting to cross. Let us not forget that Ms. Tapia stated she thought the child had enough room to get around her. Why did the driver not STOP?

    -- Posted by OpinionMissy on Thu, Jun 4, 2009, at 8:24 AM
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    devil's_advocate

    She is 12 years old, almost a teenager. Why would she need parent supervision? Or did you not read that part? Parents shouldnt have to be with their children to cross the street. My children have crossed American Legion at 6th Street for the last 4 years without supervision, and nothing has happened to them thankfully. Please read all of the details of the story before posting a comment.

    -- Posted by BassmasterJ8 on Thu, Jun 4, 2009, at 11:22 AM

  • I think you guys are just over overemphasizing just a bit, sure she was hit by a mirror of the car, but it doesn't mean the damages that were inflicted on her were serious, and why would the parents be hit "harder" by the announcement, they're fortune the youngster didn't actually get hit by the car and passed away. The driver of the car shouldn't be driving anyway, but it doesn't mean we have to be disgusted at her, just because she didn't have a driver's license. Everyone makes mistakes, you welcome that, and you get over it. Just be pleased. she wasn't killed.

    I wouldn't be focusing on the fact that the driver didn't have a driver's license, I would be concentrating on the fact that the girl is all right, and that the driver of the car is okay, because that's what parents are supposed to do.

    -- Posted by CharlesHarris on Mon, Jun 8, 2009, at 2:38 PM

  • ok when I first moved to this town 13 yrs ago there were 2 accidents involving someone hitting a kid in a crosswalk in case the little boy died in the other he boy was in the hospital for a week. and every year since there was been some one hit by some one I a car. people of all ages need to watch what they are doing when they are behind the wheele of a car. and I hope that this woman gets some kind of justice for this accident and has to be resposible for the cost of all of this. and if she has a problem with it then she should have never gotten in her car and drove without a licence.

    -- Posted by tweety1207 on Mon, Jun 8, 2009, at 6:33 PM
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