A child was hit by a car Friday afternoon near State Highway 9 and 5th Street in Tecumseh and was transported to a hospital for treatment. Police in the small Pottawatomie County city confirmed the crash and said officers are still working to piece together what happened.
According to News 9, the Tecumseh Police Department confirmed that officers are investigating after a car hit a child near Highway 9 and 5th Street. The child was taken to a Shawnee hospital to be treated for their injuries, according to KOCO.
What Investigators Have — and Haven't — Said
As of Friday, investigators had not yet released details on what caused the crash, and the girl's condition was unknown, though officers said her injuries were thought to be non-life-threatening, the station's report notes. That leaves basic questions — how the crash happened and whether the child remains hospitalized — unanswered for now, pending further word from police.
In the meantime, motorists are asked to avoid the area while officers investigate, per the same account. The request covers the stretch around Highway 9 and 5th Street, where Highway 9 passes through Tecumseh.
Not the First Crash Near This Stretch of Highway 9
This is not the only pedestrian crash reported along that corridor. A previous News 9 report described a 15-year-old high school student being hit in a crosswalk, according to a News9.com report.
Statewide, the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office maintains an interactive crash dashboard and publishes an annual Crash Facts book covering crash data from recent years, though that resource does not speak to the specifics of Friday's incident in Tecumseh. Nationally, federal data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows children accounted for 8 percent, or an estimated 5,106, of injured pedestrians in a recent year's traffic crashes nationwide, with 19 percent of child pedestrian deaths in that dataset involving hit-and-run drivers.
No information about the cause of Friday's crash or the driver had been made public as of Friday afternoon. Officers said the girl's injuries were thought to be non-life-threatening, though her condition was unknown. Hoodline will update this story as Tecumseh police release more information.
