UPDATE: Two Children Hit And Killed By Vehicle In Northeast El Paso
A group of four children were struck by a vehicle while walking along side of a road in northeast El Paso just before 5 p.m. Saturday evening, according to the El Paso Police Department.
Officials said that officers arrived on the scene near the 12200 Block of Dyer Street and found that four children had been hit by 27-year-old Oscar Salazar, who was driving a black Toyota Scion.
Two of the children, 3-year-old Johnathan Macias and 8-year-old Anne Marie Harrleson died at the scene. The other two children, 11-year-old Guadalupe Macias and 15-year-old Fabian Harrelson, were taken to University Medical Center.
Investigators determined that Salazar was driving south on Dyer Street when for reasons not yet known, he veered right and struck the children.
Police said Salazar immediately stopped at the scene and called for help, and has not been charged in the collision.
Area residents told ABC-7 they aren’t surprised that there was an accident in that area.
“I’m not surprised at all. It was gonna happen sooner or later,” said neighbor Scott Noren.
Noren said that the stretch of road is dangerous for walkers due to the 55 mile per hour sped limit and the lack of lighting, even though the children were struck in broad daylight.
“They were actually traveling on the emergency lane. As you can see, there’s no sidewalk out here so they were traveling on the emergency lane,” said police officials.
Police said they are still investigating what factors played into this collision and exactly why that driver swerved off the road.
“Any roadway is dangerous and it’s something we’re looking into. It’s the responsibility of everybody, pedstrians, motorists, everybody has to be watching out for each other,” police said.
Neighbors told ABC-7 that even though this situation is a tragedy, children that young should not have been walking alone.
“They’re walking to Circle K, and to Circle K it’s almost 4 miles. They should’ve had an adult with them. Period,” said Noren.
This is the 21st and 22nd traffic related death of 2012 as compared to 25 at this time last year.
