DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 1-year-old boy was struck and killed Wednesday night in Daytona Beach after leaving a home to follow the family dog, police said.
Daytona Beach police said the fatal crash happened around 8:20 p.m. in the 2900 block of North Halifax Avenue.
“At this point it just appears to be a very tragic accident,” said Bill Rhodes, director of operations for Daytona Beach police during a news conference on Thursday.
Police said officers were called to the scene and found the boy suffering from severe injuries.
According to police, a preliminary investigation shows that the child left his or her home, following the family dog, which had escaped. Investigators believe the dog was able to open the door of the home, allowing the animal and child to get out.
While following the dog, the child entered oncoming traffic and was struck by two vehicles, police said.
“There’s no indication that excessive speed was involved,” Rhodes said. “We’re talking about a 1-and-a-half-year-old child, dusk, tough to see — just this whole mix of things came together in a really tragic turn of events last night."
The child was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead, police said.
Both drivers remained at the scene. No other details have been released.
“I heard the screech, heard all of the screaming, saw the lights, so I came running down to figure out what happened and found out it was the boy who lives here,” said resident Joshua McDermott. “We see them playing outside all of the time.”
Several of the people who live along North Halifax, where the accident happened, told News 6 they hope it sheds light on what they feel is a recurring issue there.
“It’s like a racetrack up and down the road here,” said resident Diane James.
McDermott added that he has had several close calls.
“I’ve almost gotten in an accident a couple of times just because people come flying around me — and I’m doing the speed limit. There’s nowhere for them to go into oncoming traffic, so you just got to lock your brakes and hope you don’t get into a fatal accident,” he said.
Police said that at this point, they do not believe the drivers involved in the accident were speeding, but they are still actively investigating.
