Tacoma middle school student victim of hit and run
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TACOMA, Wash. -- Eka Taumaletia just wanted to get to school.
"There's so many cars," he said, walking gingerly along Portland Avenue East in Tacoma.
His morning didn't go as planned. Shortly before 8 a.m., the seventh grader at First Creek Middle School tried to cross the street to get to class. He hit the button to fire up the crosswalk lights on each side of Portland Avenue.
"All the cars stopped except for one car," he said.
That car -- a black two door -- hit him. Taumaletia was tossed a few feet to the ground, scrapping his elbow and back.
"When he hit me, he didn't stop. He just kept on going. He didn't care," he said.
The school district and police tell the family the man had his own child in the back seat.
"No parent wants to have their child dragged around the street," said Taumaletia's mother, Naomi.
She contacted the Problem Solvers to bring attention to the problems with speeding along Portland Avenue. The posted limit is 35 miles per hour, but KOMO-TV cameras found multiple cars clearly exceeding that limit.
Naomi is just relieved her son made it through.
"I'm pretty much sure that someone is watching over my son," she said.
She hopes someone will come forward to reveal more about the driver who hit her son and sped off. She also hopes the district and city can do more to add safety to the busy four-lane street.
"There's so many cars," he said, walking gingerly along Portland Avenue East in Tacoma.
His morning didn't go as planned. Shortly before 8 a.m., the seventh grader at First Creek Middle School tried to cross the street to get to class. He hit the button to fire up the crosswalk lights on each side of Portland Avenue.
"All the cars stopped except for one car," he said.
That car -- a black two door -- hit him. Taumaletia was tossed a few feet to the ground, scrapping his elbow and back.
"When he hit me, he didn't stop. He just kept on going. He didn't care," he said.
The school district and police tell the family the man had his own child in the back seat.
"No parent wants to have their child dragged around the street," said Taumaletia's mother, Naomi.
She contacted the Problem Solvers to bring attention to the problems with speeding along Portland Avenue. The posted limit is 35 miles per hour, but KOMO-TV cameras found multiple cars clearly exceeding that limit.
Naomi is just relieved her son made it through.
"I'm pretty much sure that someone is watching over my son," she said.
She hopes someone will come forward to reveal more about the driver who hit her son and sped off. She also hopes the district and city can do more to add safety to the busy four-lane street.
Fifty bucks says the idiot wasn't paying attention because they were talking/texting on their cell phone.
I grew up on Portland Ave and it has always been plagued with speeders. Numerous people, so many I can't count, have been killed on this road. I am glad the kid is okay, but I hope they find the driver and justice is served.Â
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BTW at 8 am the sun is already out and that stretch of Portland Ave doesn't have too many trees to shade from the sun, so there is no way the driver didn't know he had hit someone.
This is so sad. My son is the same age and in the same grade. We don't live far from his school however I REFUSE to let him walk or ride his bike to school because we live right off of a very busy road.
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What I don't understand is did they catch the driver or not? "The school district and police tell the family the man had his own child in the back seat." From this I gather that the man that hit the kid had his own child in the car when he hit the kid but then the mother of the kid hit says "She hopes someone will come forward to reveal more about the driver who hit her son and sped off." I'm confused.
Odds are the driver did know he hit something, and probably even knew he hit someone. To have no regard for anyone but yourself in this world makes it a sad place.
Accidents happen...obviously the drivers fault but I would be hard pressed to believe it was intentional. Â Question I have is whether the driver saw or felt the hit. Â Maybe not, but I lean toward yes, they did and simply ran away. Â When will people realize that this is totally the wrong thing to do in a circumstance like this?
According to the story, all the other cars stopped.
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No one had it in them to follow the black car to get a plate number?
 @HonkeyCat Im sure the drivers were in some level of shock seeing this young person being hit and were more concerned with his well being than thinking about pursuit. However I agree that at least one should have been able to get even a partial plate for the police report to follow up.
I frequently drive that stretch of Portland Avenue and am astounded by the number of speeding drivers who show no regard for the law, or for others. The crosswalk in question is in frequent use, and is always an area in which I am extra careful. Furhter down the avenue toward I-5, the Puyallup Nation does a fine job of traffic enforcement, and I am appreciative of their efforts to make the area safe for pedestrians and other drivers. I am so glad this young man was not seriously injured! This could have been a much worse tragedy!
Glad there was no serious injury. Were there any other witnesses who stopped for the light and can assist police with a good description of the car? Hope the fool is found quickly; someone besides the driver knows he left the scene.......if you are his friend, turn him in to police.
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I'm glad he's alive. Â I hope he learned a great lesson. Â Don't trust crosswalk or driver with your life. Â
I've never been one for red light cameras or speed cameras, but I do fully support having cameras in school zones that are activated at the start and end of the school day.
Another thing they could do is have a camera record 5 seconds before and after the crossing signal has been activated. This way if a vehicle, like in this story, kept on going then there would be video proof of the vehicle.
Sadly, Tacoma Police never bother to enforce speed limits or other traffic laws.
 @Fooey Patooey! With so many different laws that are needing enforcement, the moment that TPD was strictly enforcing the speed limit related laws youd probably be crying foul that some other law isnt being enforced. Remember there is a lopsided ratio of police officers (352 according to their site) to citizens (200k+ in Tacoma) in every city which means they arent going to be able to enforce every law.
Man, that kid is lucky to be hit just this morning and to be well enough to be out and about and talk about it. Seriously people, slow the F down already! Maybe doing some improvements to that crossing would be a good idea as well.
Well at least Eka is alright. What a terrible person to just drive away after hitting someone and with his own child in the car! I hope they find this guy or he turns himself in. Maybe it's time they put in actual stop lights at this crosswalk and make people stop when it's engaged. They have them in Kirkland why not here?