A mother and her two young sons were seriously injured this morning when they were struck by a tow truck while crossing North Tryon Street.
The pedestrian accident happened shortly after 7:35 a.m. in the 2500 block of North Tryon Street, a short distance north of 28th Street. Light rain was falling at the time, and it was still about 20 minutes before full daylight. A witness to the accident reported that the mother and her two children were trying to cross the street about 100 feet from the nearest crosswalk. The family waited for traffic to clear, but then they got caught in the middle of the road on two double lines. When they finally attempted to finish crossing the street, a tow truck pulled out of a Bojangles’ parking lot onto North Tryon and hit the mother and her two kids.
All three victims were taken to Carolinas Medical Center. The mother and the older son, who is 7 or 8 years old, had life-threatening injuries. The eldest boy was pushed into a car in the opposite lane after being hit by the tow truck. However, according to a witness, the younger son was able to get up and walk to the curb. According to police, the younger son, who is 4 or 5 years old, suffered cuts and other injuries described as potentially life-threatening.
The two vehicles involved in the accident were stopped at the scene — the truck on the northbound side of the road and the sedan on the southbound side. Articles of clothing were in the street while police conducted the investigation. North Tryon Street was closed for more than two hours while police investigated, but all lanes were reopened shortly before 10 a.m. The only person facing charging so far is the driver of the sedan in the inbound lane, who struck the boy after he was thrown into her lane. Police cited her for driving with a revoked license.
