17-year-old dies after being struck by vehicle on northeast side
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A 17-year-old boy has died after being struck by a vehicle Thursday morning on the city’s northeast side.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the boy as Dalton Bandy.
His aunt Tabitha Malson said Dalton had goals, dreams and love for everybody. He loved basketball.
Malson had a message for the driver, who did stop after the incident.
“If it was a simple accident, then I would love, for him, to know it was an accident,” Malson said.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers arrived just after 7 a.m. for report of a person struck by a vehicle in the area of 3900 of North Emerson Avenue. Upon arriving, police found the boy laying in the northbound lane of Emerson Avenue.
Donna Jagoe lives in a home directly in front of where the accident happened. She says she usually works early in the morning, but was off Thursday.
“I was sitting on my couch watching TV. I head a big boom” she said, “I looked out my window, and saw this kid laying in the street. A girl kept screaming, ‘he hit my brohter, he hit my brother.”
Jagoe says she rushed outside and called 911, then hurried to calm the young woman on the side of the road.
“I just went immediately to the girl to try to keep her back a little bit because she obviously wanted to go to her brother. She just wanted him to get up,” Jagoe said.
The nightmare scene didn’t end there however. Jagoe said it was rush hour and traffic continued to move despite the accident.
“All the cars kept going around him and didn’t stop,” she said. “Another lady had to stop her car in the middle of the road to keep cars from going around him.”
Police arrived and Jagoe said she was able to piece together what happened. She says the brother and sister had been crossing Emerson Avenue, a four-lane road with a concrete and grass divider, from east to west. She said Dalton Bandy had crossed the northbound lanes and was in the southbound lanes on the west side of the road when he was hit by a silver pickup truck and thrown back into the northbound lanes.
Jagoe said she saw an bus labeled “Indianapolis Public Schools” on the west side of the street, near the intersection of Roselawn Avenue and Emerson Avenue. She wasn’t sure if the bus had stopped and was waiting for the brother and sister, or if it was in motion. She was shocked to see cars moving past the accident.
“That’s somebody’s kid laying there,” she said. “They just drive too fast and don’t stop.”
Jagoe said the driver of the pickup did stop and she saw him standing with Dalton Bandy in the street. IMPD says the pickup was towed away from the scene. No criminal charges have been announced.
IMPD officers say Bandy was taken to IU Methodist Hospital in critical condition. Hours later, the Marion County Coroner’s Office confirmed Bandy died from his injuries.
“Any crash where somebody’s hurt is heartbreaking but anytime it involves a child it kind of, digs a little deeper,” said Sergeant John Perrine with Indiana State Police. He says roadway safety is everyone’s responsibility.
“It’s not up to the police not up to the school, it’s not up to any one person but a coordinated effort and a little bit of patience will definitely increase the safety of our roads,” he said.
Donna Jagoe says living off Emerson Avenue and 38th Street, she takes her own teenage son’s safety very seriously.
“I watch him walk across the street. And he’s 16 years old. He hates it. ‘Mom you don’t have to watch me walk.’ But I do it anyway,” she said.
School officials with Lighthouse Charter School confirm Bandy attends their east campus high school. School officials say they’re working on a public statement following the accident. Follow this story for those updates.