The photo tell the story. Not all of it, maybe but enough. A mangled baby stroller abandoned in the middle of a six-lane intersection. A few feet away, a weathered pickup has stopped sprawled half across the curb. Yellow police tape twists in the foreground.
The scene is Cooper Street and California Lane in South Arlington. This morning around 10, the driver of the pickup reportedly made an ill-judged left turn from northbound Cooper, struck an oncoming car, and lost control.
Standing on the street corner, a father was waiting to cross the street with his infant son. The truck plowed into the stroller before coming to a stop.
"The dad was just screaming and the drivers were screaming," a witness, Alicia Hopkin, told CBS 11. "He picked the baby up out of the road and brought it over, and somebody helped him lay him on the median. They were all just screaming."
Candace Money left the Cooper Street chiropractic clinic where she works to see if she could help.
"I knelt down to check on the baby ... and took one look and there was no question," Money told the Star-Telegram.
Neither the child nor the dad, who was hospitalized with minor injuries, have been identified.
The story has stoked outrage in comments sections and on social media. Some, predictably, is directed at the as-yet unidentified driver, though it should be noted that there is no suggestion at this point that he was impaired. Left-turn fender-benders are common. Usually, there isn't a stroller nearby.
And there's been a mild backlash at the media for showing photos of the mangled stroller. A sample:
@dallasnews That picture is incredibly distasteful and insensitive.
— Melody (@melmixntx) May 29, 2014But isn't the fact that a child died the sensational part? And would the media be serving anyone if they tried to sugarcoat that fact? The Dallas Morning News managing editor George Rodrigue's response seems right:
@dallasnews The death was awful. The image of the stroller is incredibly sad. We hope it makes people think, care, and drive more carefully.
— George Rodrigue (@DMNGeoRodrigue) May 29, 2014Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
