A 9-year-old pedestrian was hospitalized after being struck by a westbound vehicle while crossing the roadway near West Roseburg and Amhurst avenues in Modesto, police said. The collision happened Monday night, and the child's injuries are believed not to be life-threatening.
According to CBS News, the Modesto Police Department said the child was taken to a hospital for further medical treatment following the crash. Police also issued a clarification noting the child was not riding an e-bike at the time of the collision, addressing a detail that had circulated about the incident. The driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, who have not yet determined the exact circumstances of the crash.
A City Already Grappling With Pedestrian Danger
The Monday night crash lands in a city that has struggled with pedestrian safety for years. Modesto ranked as the third most dangerous city for pedestrians among 60 California cities of similar population in 2021, with rankings worsening since 2017, according to The Modesto Bee. That same reporting found nighttime crashes were the most frequent type compared with similarly sized cities — a pattern that lines up with this week's after-dark collision.
Provisional data cited by the Bee showed 100 pedestrian crashes resulting in injury or death in Modesto in 2022, climbing to 108 in 2023, with 28 recorded in just the first quarter of 2024. Nine pedestrians were killed in Modesto crashes in 2023 alone. An Office of Traffic Safety official told the paper that nationally, almost three out of four pedestrians who are struck are hit at night.
Other Recent Crashes Around Stanislaus County
The Monday night crash is not an isolated incident in the area. Westside Connect reported that two teenage girls, Nicole Cotzojay, 15, and Camila Mendoza Magallon, 16, were killed while crossing Coffee Road in Modesto in front of Downey High School. A 63-year-old woman survived being struck by a car at Coffee Road and Floyd Avenue, and a 14-year-old boy riding an electric motorcycle died after a collision near Tokay Avenue and Old Vineyard Road in Turlock, per the same outlet's reporting.
In response to the spate of incidents, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office conducted maximum-enforcement operations targeting dangerous driving behaviors that put pedestrians at risk, with operations held on a Monday and a Wednesday, the outlet noted. A motorcycle-versus-pedestrian crash in Modesto also left two people with minor injuries at Paradise Road and South Martin Luther King Drive at about 7:45 p.m. on a Wednesday night, the Bee reported, while a bicyclist was struck at Mitchell Road and Dale Avenue in Ceres on Oct. 13 and taken to a trauma center with a head injury, according to Westside Connect.
A Pattern With Earlier Roseburg Avenue Crash
This week's collision is not the first serious crash reported at or near West Roseburg Avenue. CBS News previously reported that a 12-year-old girl had to be airlifted to a hospital after a car crash at West Roseburg and Del Vale avenues, in an incident where police said speed and alcohol may have been factors. That crash injured four people total, according to the outlet's report.
A similar pattern of a driver remaining at the scene and cooperating with investigators played out in a 2018 Modesto collision involving a bicyclist and a vehicle near W. Briggsmore Avenue and College Avenue, according to a news release from the City of Modesto; the bicyclist in that case later died at a local hospital. As with this week's crash near West Roseburg and Amhurst avenues, the exact cause of the collision had not been established at the time police confirmed the driver was cooperating with investigators.
