APD investigating after child was hit while crossing the street

Investigators worked through the morning mapping the intersection of East Slaughter Lane and Brandt Dr. The scene caught several morning commuters by surprise, like Jamie McCombs

"I saw the thing over there in the road and thought it was like a survey or something,” said McCombs.

To the left of two police officers, who were blocking the left east bound lane of slaughter lane was a white SUV. It was stopped in the west bound lane with damage to the front driver side. The intersection where the auto-pedestrian collision took place is at the base of two hills - with an apartment complex on one side and a neighborhood on the other.

"If you look at this intersection, at night-time, you know its early in the morning, at 6:30 in the morning, its dark over here. There are no lights and it’s a very dark intersection,” said APD Spokesman Sr. Patrol Officer Demitri Hobbs.

The incident happened around 6:30 Wednesday morning. Witnesses told police that the child who was hit was crossing the roadway with several other people. It’s believed they were heading to a convenience store.

"The driver of the vehicle stopped. Ran over to the Texaco and told them to call 911. Stayed on scene,” said Hobbs.

No charges were filed at the time. The child was taken to Dell Children's Medical Center with critical injuries.

Data form APD shows the area is a problem for law enforcement. Over the past 3 months there have been 11 traffic incidents along this stretch of East Slaughter Lane. In December, there was 1 DWI and 4 cases of Leaving The Scene of an Accident. In January there was another DWI with 2 hit and runs. February closed out with two impaired drivers and a case of leaving the scene.

While some who spoke to FOX 7 want more police patrols, others say improvements to the roadway are also needed.

"The solution is, that we don’t have proper turning signals or chicken lanes where they need to be. Right, and there needs to be a little more awareness,” said local businessman Ryan Musick.

So far this year APD has investigated 11 traffic fatalities.