A 9-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after a driver struck her on Germantown Avenue near Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia and sped off without stopping, according to police. The crash happened shortly before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, leaving the child with a broken foot, at least one broken rib, and skin abrasions.
Police said the vehicle involved was possibly a Toyota RAV4, and investigators believe it was left running on two flat tires after the collision, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The girl was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children on East Erie Avenue, one of only two accredited Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers in the city, according to the PA Trauma Systems Foundation. The 178-bed hospital, founded in 1875, has held that pediatric trauma accreditation since 2003 and also houses the region’s only dedicated pediatric burn facility.
No arrest has been announced, and the driver’s identity remains unknown. The Philadelphia Police Department’s Crash Investigation Division, which handles serious auto-pedestrian hit-and-run cases, is asking anyone with information to call its direct line at 215-685-3180 or the department’s confidential tipline.
A Notoriously Dangerous Corridor
The crash unfolded along the Broad, Germantown, and Erie avenue corridor, a heavily traveled multimodal hub that PennDOT crash records identified as logging the highest number of pedestrian-involved crashes in the city over a two-decade span, per the same Inquirer reporting. City planners began targeted safety studies for the six-way junction back in 2017, and as part of redesign efforts there, the city has installed protective bollards along pedestrian walkways and planned flat-topped speed tables on Germantown Avenue meant to slow approaching traffic. The stretch has drawn scrutiny before; Hoodline previously reported on a violent abduction that began near the same Germantown and Erie avenues intersection…