Tragedy in My Neighborhood

The last post I made showed a little boy sitting in a car seat crying. Luckily he was just sad over a a sad song his dad was playing. Yesterday morning, a child in a car seat had a really tragic reason to cry.

Around 11:30 a.m., a mother was in front of Nottingham Elementary School putting her child into the back of her car, via the driver's side of the vehicle. While she was loading her child in, she was struck by a passing dump truck that had a raised snow plow attached to the front. She died of her injuries at the hospital. The story was reported on WUSA Channel 9, and pictures showing the area cordoned off in front of the school are on their website as well.

The school is where our children would have gone to elementary school if they had gone to public school instead of Catholic school. I walk past it almost every time I take a walk. In the afternoon there are always dozens of people around, and I myself have noticed that some parents are oblivious to the traffic and do not seem to have the level of respect for drivers that is required in busy neighborhoods.

This incident is a tragedy that will undoubtedly cause many to question the actions of both the mother and the truck driver. Sadly, there can be no happy ending whichever way the police investigation turns out.

************************