LANCASTER, N.Y. (WKBW) — An incident in Lancaster, that sent a young boy to the hospital with minor injuries, is drawing attention to what some neighbors call a "problem intersection."
A 9-year-old boy was hit last week while crossing the street at Como and Aurora near his house.
His family reached out to 7 News in part after watching our "Left on Red" coverage — tracking down troublesome intersections in our region.
The boy's grandmother feels the intersection needs a traffic light rather than a four-way stop sign.
7 News spoke with the victim's father and neighbor.
Steven Contrino was about to take his son to school last week when they noticed a ball in the street outside their home on the corner of Como Park Boulevard and Aurora Street. His son Andrew got out of the car to put it away.
"He brought it into the house and as he was coming back across she came from over there and hit him in the crosswalk," Contrino says he was shocked when he saw his son get hit by a car. "I grabbed him out of the street and brought him over to the truck and made sure he was OK. It was just crazy I never witnessed anything like that."
He says an ambulance took Andrew to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries but he tells me it could have been a lot worse.
"Thank God he's alright. No broken bones or anything. There was a rainbow in the sky that morning. Somebody was looking over him," says Steven.
Lancaster Police Captain Jonathon Ziders called this a pedestrian accident and warned drivers to be more alert.
"The driver was issued two traffic tickets at the scene. What we're bringing attention to right now ultimately is the increase in pedestrian and bicycle activity," says Captain Ziders.
Thomas Fries lives and works near the intersection of Como Park Boulevard and Aurora.
"Personally, this intersection could use a light in my opinion. Every night I'm hearing people speed by. People just don't know when to go or slow down. There's a lot of crashes," says Ziders.
Steven says he doesn't know what the solution is but he does know this: "People need to be more careful when they're driving. I mean you're right down the street from a school. There are kids in the neighborhood."
He has this message for the driver who hit his son, "It would have just been nice if she would have stopped and made sure my son was OK."
