HOUSTON, TX (08/14/2016) — 4-year-old Muhamed Ali Abdullah has died after a driver struck him in a crosswalk early Monday morning.
According to the Houston Police Department (HPD), 4-year-old Muhamed Ali Abdullah was killed after he was struck by a driver while in a crosswalk at the intersection of Tarneff Street and De Moss Street in Houston, Texas (next to KIPP CONNECT School).
HPD reported that at around 7:30 a.m., the driver of a black GMC Arcadia was driving northbound on Tarneff when she struck the child who was walking westbound in the crosswalk on De Moss.
According to Abdullah’s family, the mother was walking two of her older children to KIPP Connect Houston Primary School for their first day of classes, and 4-year-old Muhamed was walking with them. According to the boy’s father, the family was crossing in front of a bus which was stopped at the intersection then an SUV drove around a school bus and hit his son.
“When they were walking, this lady drives, she didn’t stop, and he just got hit, and she dragged him all the way up to the middle of the street,” said Aboobaiada Abdullah, the boy’s father.
The boy was taken to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, where he later died.
HPD stated that the boy failed to yield to the right of way to traffic when the vehicle struck him. The driver, who was determined not to be impaired, was released without charges.
Commentary
While the HPD has reported that charges may still be filed pending the results of the investigation, I am really confused as to why their preliminary investigation lists the 4-year-old boy (who was in a crosswalk, in a school zone) as the one who failed to yield the right of way.
According to Texas law, vehicles are required to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in a crosswalk, marked or unmarked, when in the same half of the roadway as the pedestrian, or if a pedestrian is approaching their half of the roadway from the opposite side of the road.
I trust that officials will perform an exhaustive investigation to determine exactly what happened and who was at-fault. To those affected by this tragedy, we offer our deepest condolences.
