DETROIT – A Detroit family is demanding changes to address speeding on Canyon Street between East Warren Avenue and Chandler Park Drive after a 4-year-old girl was struck by a car during a family reunion over the weekend and left in a coma.
“This is beyond our wildest belief because she’s so small,” said Brandi Shaw, her grandmother. “To see her lying in the street pretty much lifeless. I just can’t get that out of my head.”
Relatives said 4-year-old Santana Martin was always joyful and smiling, and was having fun with her family on Sunday (Aug. 10).
She was crossing Canyon Street near Lafontaine during a family reunion Saturday when she was hit.
Martin suffered a broken jaw, broken limbs, and head and other injuries, and remains in a coma, her family said.
“The baby’s braid was hanging out of this man’s bumper. So you hit her with some type of force,” Shaw said.
Police stated that the driver stopped, and the speed limit on the street is 25 mph.
Detroit police said the case remains under investigation, but at this time, it does not appear the driver was speeding.
“This just looks like a tragic accident,” Detroit police said initially.
But family members disagree.
“(The driver) took no time to even attempt to slow down,” said Baldwin-Mercer.
Santana’s family said speeding has been a problem on the street for some time, and they have requested assistance from the city and police.
When Local 4 monitored the area with a radar gun, drivers were clocked going 48 mph, 47 mph, and 44 mph.
Some were going just above the speed limit, but it was not difficult to catch people speeding.
“This was an accident and I believe that, but I think the city of Detroit needs to reevaluate this,” Martin’s aunt and grandmother said.
The problem the city is facing is that the street is a “collector” street — meaning it “serves to move traffic from local streets to arterial roads,” so speed humps cannot be installed.
Detroit police and city officials said they are instead working on adding mobile and electronic speed signs and increasing traffic enforcement. They also plan to survey residents living on and near Canyon Street.
Martin’s family would like to thank Detroit police, and specifically, Officer Bell and her partner, for saving her life.
Click here if you’d like to help with Martin’s medical expenses.