PORT TOWNSEND — A 6-year-old boy was treated and discharged from Jefferson Healthcare after a car backed up a curb, hit him and then continued on into a cast iron planter in landscaping on Lawrence Street.
The 79-year-old Port Ludlow driver said she thought she was pressing the brake, said Officer Luke Bogues of the Port Townsend Police Department.
Instead, the 1998 Toyota Camry she was driving at about 12:25 p.m. today backed out of a parallel parking space, drove over a curb, and struck a 6-year-old boy from Edmonds who was walking on the sidewalk with his mother, Bogues said.
The car then drove on into the landscaping at Petals Flower Boutique at 1031 Lawrence St., he said.
The driver was evaluated by aid personnel before being driven home by a friend, said Bogues, who did not identify either the driver or the boy because of department policy.
An infraction for unsafe backing is being forwarded to Jefferson County District Court, he said.
When the Camry drove into a cast iron planter in the landscaping in front of the business, its rear end raised off the ground, creating a space underneath the car that allowed the boy to avoid being trapped below the undercarriage, Bogues said.
He was pulled out by bystanders after the vehicle stopped and then was taken by East Jefferson Fire-Rescue medics to Jefferson Healthcare, where he was treated for minor injuries, Bogues said.
The car narrowly avoided striking the building, and property damage is estimated at about $1000, the police officer added.
Bogues estimated the damage to the Camry as minimal.
