LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A ghost bike memorial will be installed Thursday at a South Los Angeles intersection, near the spot where a 12-year-old boy was fatally struck by a speeding hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle in the early afternoon.
Michael Smith was fatally injured on July 22. The youth’s mother and other relatives were expected to attend the installation at 83rd and Main streets.
In addition to a white “ghost bike,” doves will be released in the boy’s memory.
According Damian Kevitt of Streets are for Everyone, the preteen started running his own ice cream truck when he was 7 and dreamed of growing the business before his life was cut short while on his way to meet a friend.
Streets are for Everyone reported in a blog post that Smith was riding on 83rd Street approaching Main Street when he was hit by a driver reported to be speeding at 75 miles per hour on the city street.
Firefighters were sent about 2:55 p.m. to the 200 block of 83rd Street, between Broadway and Main, after getting a report that a child was in cardiac arrest after being hit by a speeding Dodge Charger, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz. Smith was already receiving CPR when they arrived, and took him to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz.
The boy died from “traumatic injuries,” according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office.
The driver left the scene but was later caught and is free on bail, according to Streets are for Everyone.
Details about the case were not immediately available from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Smith’s death was at least the 36th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year and the 14th in Los Angeles County, according to bikinginla.com, which reported that the driver fled but was eventually arrested.
Also called whitebikes, ghost bike memorials are placed at locations where bicycle riders have been killed or severely injured by vehicles.
Smith would have turned 13 on Sept. 16.
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