OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – The Oakland biking community is asking city leaders to do more after a 4-year-old girl was killed in an accident near Lake Merritt.
The girl was riding in a child’s seat on the back of her father’s bike on Lakeshore Avenue on Aug. 5 when a driver opened a car door in front of them, causing them to crash. The child died a few days later.
The 4-year-old’s aunt says her parents are completely torn apart, and one month after the tragedy, they are still learning how to live without her.
A growing memorial sits near Lake Merritt and Hanover Avenue for 4-year-old Maia Correia. The little girl and her father were riding in the bike lane, wearing helmets and trying to stay out of the way of cars when a parked car opened its door and hit the bike. Maia fell and hit her head.
George Spies with Traffic Violence Rapid Response says someone called 9-1-1 and paramedics came to the scene.
“They checked her out she seemed okay, they sent her home with directions to keep an eye out,” he said.
She went home, and a few hours later, she started vomiting and fell unconscious. When she was rushed to the hospital they found a blood clot between her brain and her skull.
Maia’s aunt Sheila McCracken says she was eventually removed from life support.
“We wanted to leave the hospital but we wanted to leave the hospital with Maia. So leaving without her was heartbreaking,” she said.
She says it’s still hard to imagine life without Maya
“I just feel like my heart’s been ripped out,“ she said. “My sister is trying her best to be there for her two other kids and she’s insanely strong that she gets out of bed every single day to be there for them.”
Both organizers with Traffic Violence Rapid Response and Bike East Bay believe Maia’s death could have been prevented. They want city leaders to make the streets safer for pedestrians and bikers. Spies says slower speed limits and protected bike lanes could make a difference.
“A protected bike lane, typically when you see one you have the sidewalk and the curb, you have a bike lane, then there’s a concrete separator of some sort, it’s typically a couple feet wide, then there’s the parking lane,” he said.
Maia’s family says they are working with lawyers right now. They are looking to possibly take legal action against the paramedic or Kaiser.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/m2jDaRk
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