WASHINGTON — A 9-year-old is fighting for his life after being hit by a car in a major crash Friday, his attorney, Keith Watters told us Wednesday. D.C. Police said the collision happened just after 2 p.m. Friday as the child was leaving school at KIPP DC Honor Academy.
That child, identified as Kaidyn Green, is still on life support, but showing some responsiveness, Watters said.
Watters added that Kaidyn's condition is “very serious”. He is supposed to have major surgery Friday and the surgery will determine whether he has the use of his limbs going forward.
“It’s a miracle he’s alive at this point," Watter said.
Kaidyn was hit in the 3300 block Wheeler Road after leaving school early. Assistant Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said he was trying to cross the street to meet an adult but was not in a crosswalk when he was hit.
Officers on the scene said he was found unconscious and not breathing.
The driver stayed on the scene and is cooperating, police said.
Though it has yet to be determined if speed was a factor in the crash, Carroll said schools are one of the prime areas of D.C. Police are targeting new speeding initiatives.
“We know folks think of slowing down at dismissal time, but this is an example of why you need to go slow any time of the day," he said. "Be very cautious in these areas at all times, day or night.”
Rachel Rawlings, a KIPP D.C. mom, said parents have been asking for speed to be added to these streets for a while.
“It's scary because ... it could be your child," Rawlings said. "You got to worry every day like oh my god, school let out, there's speeding over there. Two, three kids already got hit. It's ridiculous."
D.C. Department of Transportation had just announced Thursday that a speed camera was due to be set up on Dec. 15, less than a block away from where this crash happened.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also recently said MPD officers would step up patrols around schools to assist with traffic safety.
“[This is] something else for us to focus on,” she said. “That children can be present moving in and around schools at any time."
This is not the first KIPP D.C. student to be injured as of late. Senior Larelle Washington died earlier in the week after being shot outside of the school. In late August, 15-year-old Kemon Payne died on his third day back to school, after he was stabbed by a fellow classmate outside the school.
Two months ago, two girls and their father were hit on Wheeler Road, block-and-a-half south of Friday’s incident.
In November, a driver also hit and killed Kevin Hodge, 58, of D.C., while he was trying to cross Wheeler Road near Barnaby Street.
His sister, Cynthia Knott, said something must be done to keep residents safe along that thoroughfare.
"I'm hurt because it's like the city doesn't care,” she said. “It doesn't care about the victims or the victim's families."
Knott added she has yet to hear from District leaders about the passing of her brother.
"Reach out, let us know that you care,” she said. “For the city, for the people, for the families, for everyone.”
DDOT data shows almost half of D.C.'s traffic fatalities have taken place in Wards 7 and 8, so far, this year. Data from the D.C. Planning department shows less than a quarter of the District's population lives there.
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