MEDINA, Ohio — A 9-year-old was hit by a car while crossing the street near Medina Public Square on his way to school Tuesday morning.
The boy's father, John McKay, tells News 5 he wants drivers to see the video as a warning.
"Traffic is chaos around there," said McKay. "I tried to get there as quick as I possibly could."
McKay said it's a phone call no parent wants to receive.
"It's scaring me; I have never been that terrified in my life," said McKay.
This isn't the first pedestrian to be hit near Medina Public Square in recent years.
According to Medina Police, the child hit Tuesday morning is the first pedestrian to be hit in 2024, but in 2023, there were six and in 2022, there were two. One of the most notable incidents was on Smith Road near Jefferson Street in November. News 5 reported on 55-year-old Laura Schmid, who broke nine ribs, five vertebrae, her pelvis, forehead, and nose. The driver fled the scene.
Schmid is now questioning the justice system after being hit. Watch more below:
RELATED: Family of Medina woman critically injured in hit-skip questioning justice system
Another incident News 5 followed was in May of 2023, where Medina parking attendant Bill Pavlick was hit by a car on Court Street.
After Pavlick was hit, local businesses rallied around him.
RELATED: Medina parking attendant hit by car gets love from businesses in the Square
Pavlick had three back fractures, an eye socket fracture, and a broken right foot.
Despite nine people being hit by cars in the Media Public Square area in the past two and a half years, Medina Police Chief Ed Kinney said it's not happening frequently.
"It's not happening very often, it's a fairly rare occurrence,"
Maria Escobar, who works at Monarca Cantina, said she faces too many close calls with drivers daily.
"They are too focused on their phone, and I almost got hit twice," said Escobar.
Escobar wants to see better warnings for drivers at crosswalks.
"Sometimes these streetlights, I don't know if people don't see them because they are yellow," Escobar added. "I don't know if they need to be green or a little more bright to be like there's someone's crossing."
Kinney said the city has made plenty of upgrades for walkers; the rest is now up to drivers.
"People need to pay attention is what they need to do. They need to be aware of their surroundings and understand that that is a highly traveled area."
McKay is grateful his son is alive and that his injuries were minor.
"Slowdown, be careful, pay attention, there's little ones out there," said McKay. "Everybody just slow down pay attention."
Police said the driver involved in this recent incident was driving without a license, and McKay said they would be pressing chargers.
