Boy hit crossing street walking to Harbour Pointe Middle School

Published 10:48 pm Thursday, January 7, 2010

MUKILTEO — Barbara Edmondson always worried about teens crossing the busy stretch of Beverly Park Road south of the Mukilteo Speedway, particularly in the dark.

Around 7 a.m. Thursday, her worst fears were realized when a 14-year-old boy was struck near the busy intersection on his way to school.

The Harbour Pointe Middle School student was unconscious and unresponsive when paramedics arrived. He was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said.

The boy was listed in serious condition Thursday evening.

“The parents (of other students) I talked to today said, ‘Oh my God, it was a matter of time.’ It was horrifying but it wasn’t surprising,” Edmondson said.

School officials said the boy suffered a broken arm and leg, but didn’t know the severity of his other injuries.

“I am so sorry for this boy, his family, and the driver of the car,” Edmondson said. “We live about a mile from this spot, and it is very dangerous, especially during morning and afternoon rush hours.”

Police are investigating if the boy had tried to run across Beverly Park Road, Mukilteo police Cmdr. Chuck Macklin said. It appears the teen wasn’t in a crosswalk.

The boy’s neighborhood school is Olympic View Middle School, but he attends Harbour Pointe Middle School on a variance, said Andy Muntz, a Mukilteo School District spokesman. Many students on variances take Community Transit buses to their schools, Muntz said.

There is a CT bus stop along that stretch of roadway.

Edmondson said she doesn’t know the circumstances leading to Thursday’s accident, but she has seen many young people dart from the west side of Beverly Park Road to the east side to catch the bus.

“The stretch of road 100 (to) 200 yards south of the Beverly Park-Mukilteo Speedway intersection is terrible, because you have northbound cars getting into two left-turn lanes, and the oncoming southbound cars cutting across those lanes to get into Albertsons at the same place the southbound lanes narrow from two lanes to one lane,” Edmondson said.

Teenagers often make unsafe decisions when crossing streets, said Kristen Thorstenson, a Marysville Fire District spokeswoman.

“They can’t always identify oncoming cars in busy intersections because they are not fully able to recognize an object from a busy background,” Thorstenson said.

Nikki Cannon, the Harbour Pointe principal, wrote a letter home to parents after the accident letting them know that counselors will be available to students.

Cannon also urged parents to talk with their children about pedestrian safety. She talked with the boy’s family, who wanted her to offer several safety tips. That advice included having children walk to school with friends, use crosswalks and be attentive to traffic and weather conditions.

Jackson Holtz contributed to this story.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.