"Baby, 1, hit by police vehicle in Jamaica Plain" by David Abel, Globe Staff | August 9, 2008
A 1-year-old baby was injured when an officer driving a police vehicle hit the baby's carriage while crossing through a Jamaica Plain intersection, police and witnesses said yesterday.
The incident, which occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday at Centre Street and Seaverns Avenue, left the baby, the mother, and the police officer hospitalized. None was seriously injured, police said. Police did not release the name of the officer, mother, or child.
The police report said the mother and child "walked into the path of the motor vehicle, at which point [the officer] locked up the brakes, and the vehicle stopped abruptly, brushing the baby carriage."
The Ricky Bobby of Boston cops, 'eh?
At the same time, Divya Kumar, 31, a Jamaica Plain resident, said she walked out of the nearby Purple Cactus restaurant and watched as the officer turned onto Seaverns Avenue from Centre Street and hit the carriage with such force that it flew in the air and overturned.
"It's a misrepresentation to say the officer brushed the stroller," Kumar said. "The stroller caught air and landed face down - it was horrible and frightening."
That's what is known as BRUSHING!
She said the mother screamed before the impact and the baby was crying hysterically afterward. She said the officer immediately got out of his vehicle to help them and "seemed helpful, genuinely concerned, and sorry."
Well, I WOULD HOPE SO!
She could not tell what the officer was doing at the time of the impact. "They should have been in his line of sight," Kumar said. "They were pedestrians going through a crosswalk. I don't understand how he didn't see them."
Police said they are investigating and declined to comment. The mother and child were taken to Children's Hospital Boston. The officer was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
It was not clear last night whether they had been released."