A 14-year-old boy remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being struck by a vehicle while crossing 35th Avenue near Dunlap Avenue in Phoenix on Saturday evening. Witnesses told police the driver was traveling southbound in the curb lane around 7:30 p.m. when the vehicle hit the teen inside a crosswalk, according to authorities.
First responders were called to the intersection just after 7:30 p.m., and the Phoenix Police Department later reported the boy had life-threatening injuries, according to AZ Family. The boy was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and the crash remains under investigation. Phoenix police say the driver did not show signs of impairment, and no charges related to intoxication have been described.
A Drug Recognition Expert from the Phoenix Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Unit evaluated the driver at the scene and found no impairment, according to KTAR News. Officers cited the driver for traffic violations before releasing him, per the same report. Phoenix Fire Department personnel also responded to the crash scene, and detectives with the Vehicular Crimes Unit took over the ongoing investigation, as reported by 12News.
A Corridor With a Recent History of Tragedy
This is not the first serious pedestrian crash at 35th and Dunlap. In November 2025, the Phoenix Police Department investigated a fatal hit-and-run at the same intersection, in which an adult man crossing in a marked crosswalk fell into traffic and was struck by multiple vehicles that fled the scene, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Hoodline has also previously reported on a shooting near this intersection, underscoring the area's status as a recurring flashpoint for violence and traffic danger in north Phoenix.
Under Arizona law, drivers must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing within marked or unmarked crosswalks when the pedestrian is on the vehicle's half of the roadway or approaching closely enough to be in danger, per Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-792 as outlined by FindLaw. A separate statute, A.R.S. § 28-794, requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with pedestrians, including giving proper horn warnings and exercising extra caution upon observing a child, according to Brad Johnson Injury Law.
Phoenix's Broader Pedestrian Safety Crisis
The crash fits a troubling pattern across Phoenix and Maricopa County. An analysis of federal and state crash data found that 76% of pedestrian fatalities in Arizona in 2024 occurred in dark conditions, with Maricopa County accounting for 73% of all pedestrian crashes statewide, according to AZ Law Now. Statewide crash data reviewed in 2026 showed Phoenix recorded 37,472 total traffic crashes in 2024, averaging more than 100 per day, resulting in 265 fatal crashes and 278 deaths — down from 307 fatalities in 2023, per Esquire Law.
Arizona's pedestrian fatality rate stood at 3.6 per 100,000 residents in data reported in 2026 by the Governors Highway Safety Association, nearly double the national average of roughly 2.1 per 100,000 and second highest among all states, according to a separate AZ Law Now analysis. The Phoenix City Council adopted a Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan in 2022 with $10 million in annual funding, aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2050 by targeting engineering and enforcement along designated High Injury Network corridors, according to the City of Phoenix.
Federal Grant Targets 35th Avenue Improvements
The city's Street Transportation Department is separately implementing the 35th Avenue Safety Corridor Project using a federal grant to install raised medians, add dual-sided LED street lighting, install pedestrian-activated crosswalks, and modernize nine signalized intersections along the roadway, according to the City of Phoenix. Those upgrades remain part of an active, ongoing effort rather than a completed fix, leaving the corridor's wide lanes and evening traffic as an unresolved hazard for now.
Hoodline has covered similar crashes elsewhere in Phoenix in recent weeks, including a fatal mid-block crash on Baseline Road and fatal nighttime crossings in Maryvale that have renewed scrutiny of the city's arterial roads. The investigation into Saturday's crash at 35th and Dunlap remains active, and police have not released further details about potential citations or the driver's identity.
