A child was rushed to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after allegedly being struck by a car at Northern Light School in Oakland, according to police. Oakland police said the incident happened at about 3:45 p.m. at the school on Dorisa Avenue, off Golf Links Road, in the Oakland hills.
The child was transferred to a hospital for treatment, but the Oakland Police Department did not disclose the extent of the injuries, according to ABC7 Bay Area. Investigators also have not said whether the child is a student at Northern Light School, leaving basic questions about the young victim unanswered as of Tuesday night.
Police said they do not yet know whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash, and the circumstances of how the child came to be struck remain under investigation. ABC7 reported that the collision happened in the school's parking lot.
Police Seek Witnesses and Video
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the Oakland Police Department Traffic Investigation Unit at (510) 777-8570. Investigators are also asking anyone with videos or photos that could help the investigation to send them to [email protected], per the same account.
No further details about the driver, the vehicle, or any potential citations have been released.
A Familiar Fear for School Communities
Crashes near schools have rattled Bay Area families before. In North Berkeley, a driver struck a 13-year-old boy outside Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School on Rose Street near Grant Street as school was letting out in September, according to Berkeley Scanner. That boy remained hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening injuries, and the 21-year-old driver of a 2006 Honda CR-V stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators; Berkeley police said they did not believe alcohol or drugs were a factor in that crash.
Oakland officials have repeatedly flagged traffic safety near schools as an urgent concern. The city's transportation department has called traffic safety near schools critical for families, children, and communities, according to the City of Oakland. A separate city statement noted that traffic crashes are the second most prevalent cause of death for Oakland's youth, and pointed to the Safe Oakland Streets initiative as the city's effort to address it, according to oaklandca.gov.
Citywide Crash Numbers Remain High
The scale of the problem has drawn attention beyond city hall. Oakland's Safe Oakland Streets initiative has described severe and fatal crashes citywide as a public safety epidemic, and Deputy City Administrator Joe Devries noted that the city matched a prior record of 36 traffic deaths in a single year, as reported by The Oaklandside. Oakland police data cited in that report found that roughly 10 percent of collisions causing severe injuries or deaths were associated with impaired driving involving alcohol or drugs.
No determination has been made about what caused Tuesday's crash at Northern Light School, and police have not said whether the driver remained at the scene. The investigation remains open as detectives continue to seek witnesses, video, and photos that could shed light on exactly what happened in the school's parking lot.
