Vigil for Route 18 victim charges lax pedestrian design
Monday, November 16, 2009
Close to 100 people gathered to honor the memory of Geroge Coleman, a local teen killed on a pedestrian crossing
On October 19th George Coleman was hit by a car and killed while walking to the New Brunswick Youth Center with friends. George was 15 years old, a student at the Charter School, with plans for Law School.
George and his friends had been using a pedestrian crosswalk at the entrance of Boyd Park. From their home in the Raritan Garden Apartments in New Brunswick, they had to cross the highway's two local lanes to access much of the city. The youths told authorities that they had used the crosswalk button and waited for the 'Walk" signal before crossing. Residents said the only other pedestrian bridge had been closed at the week of the accident.
Together close to 100 people gathered at the fatal intersection of Commercial Ave and Route 18 North, told the Coleman's story, and held a vigil in memory of George Coleman.
Included among the assembled were the Edison, Metuchen, New Brunswick and Rutgers chapters of the NAACP, friends of the Coleman family, community, clergy, Rutgers Students and the Latino Leadership Alliance.
Speakers charged that "construction did not take pedestrian safety into consideration", pitting them against traffic which often travels between 50 and 70 miles per hour. Even now the speed limit signs along Route 18 remain blank, although the four year construction ended this July.
The Coleman family and assembled supporters also told of "inhuman treatment" by police. In addition to losing their youngest son, the Coleman's went through a painful five-hour search for their son, during which they said they were treated disrespectfully by police and hospital officials.
Supporters said that while George's companions at the accident repeatedly identified Coleman when questioned by the police, George's family was never contacted. The Coleman's heard the news secondhand from a cousin of George's friend.
George was at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, but there the Colemans were told he was not there and were sent to Saint Peter's Hospital. Unknown to the Coleman family RWJ had listed George as a 'John Doe' even though his friends had given the police George's name and the Coleman address.
They were turned away again at Saint Peter's when the family went to the police station, made to wait. The Coleman's did not find their son until almost midnight, while the accident took place at 6:20 PM. George passed away just an hour later.
Lt. Miller of the New Brunswick police department told the Star Ledger that the police did not contact the family because the child was still alive when he was removed from the scene and state law only requires contact once a family member is dead. Miller said that the hospital is responsible for notification in these circumstances, however the authorities did not give George's name or information to RWJ and he was listed as a "John Doe."
At best the Coleman family could have had seven hours with their son, but because of Police and hospital negligence they had only an hour in which to say goodbye.
Speakers at the vigil noted that no official from New Brunswick had stepped forward to apologize for the way the tragedy had been handled. They called for an apology from the Police Department as well as safety improvements to the intersection and entrance to Boyd Park.
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