Wave Staff and Wire Reports
SOUTH LOS ANGELES — A “ghost bike” installation and memorial bike ride was held Aug. 24 to honor 11 children killed in traffic accidents here this year, organizers said.
The most recent victim is 12-year-old Michael Smith, who was fatally struck by a speeding hit-and-run driver at 83rd and Main streets while riding his bicycle on July 22. A ghost bike memorial was installed at that intersection Aug. 21 to honor Smith.
Also called “white bikes,” ghost bike memorials are placed at locations where bicycle riders have been killed or severely injured by vehicles.
Organizers say Michael’s family, along with community members and organizations including the East Side Riders Bike Club, Faith for SAFE Streets, and Streets Are For Everyone, “are coming together to honor his life, call for justice, and demand safer streets.”
The day began with a breakfast hosted by the Smith family at 9305 S. Broadway, followed by the ghost tire installation, a moment of silence, a news conference and a memorial ride, which started at 93rd Street and Broadway, proceed to 83rd and Main and then returned to 93rd and Broadway.
According Damian Kevitt of Streets Are For Everyone, Smith started running his own ice cream truck when he was 7 and dreamed of growing the business before his life was cut short while on his way to meet a friend.
Streets Are For Everyone reported in a blog post that Smith was riding on 83rd Street approaching Main Street when he was hit by a driver reported to be speeding at 75 miles an hour on the city street.
Firefighters were sent to the 200 block of 83rd Street, between Broadway and Main, after getting a report that a child was in cardiac arrest after being hit by a speeding Dodge Charger, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz. Smith was already receiving CPR when they arrived and was taken to a hospital, but died from “traumatic injuries,” the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office reported.
Details about the case were not available from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Smith’s death was at least the 36th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year and the 14th in Los Angeles County, according to bikinginla.com, which reported that the driver fled but was eventually arrested.
Smith would have turned 13 on Sept. 16.
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