A 12-year-old boy using a motorized scooter Wednesday afternoon at 16th Street and Park Street in Blair was hit by a pickup truck and taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Initially, both the boy and the pickup truck stopped at the intersection, according to Jake Dunn, public safety and communications coordinator for the City of Blair and second assistant fire chief for the Blair Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was dragged five to 10 feet after being hit, Dunn said that witnesses reported.
BVFR was dispatched to the scene of the accident at 5:55 p.m. Wednesday, according to Dunn.
The driver of the pickup truck, whose name also has not been released, stayed at the scene and was cited for failure to yield resulting in bodily harm to a pedestrian, Dunn said.
The intersection has stop signs in the direction of Park Street and so-called calming devices along 16th Street.
A spokeswoman for the Blair Police Department declined to comment on the accident.
The Blair City Council approved the installation of the calming devices at 16th Street and Park and two other 16th Street intersections north of Washington Street earlier this summer.
The installation included bollards — permanently placed plastic cones — additional crosswalk markings and pedestrian crossing signs at 16th and Jackson and 16th and Park streets. In addition to bollards at 16th and Nebraska, the city added stop signs to stop north and southbound traffic.
