Yahoo News Mom Dead, 2-Year-Old Seriously Injured After Being Struck by Car While Avoiding Icy Sidewalk: 'Extremely Heartbreaking'
Authorities said Shirley Howard was likely pushing her stroller on the bike lane when she and her son got hit because of the ice-covered sidewalks
A mother died and her 2-year-old son remains in critical condition after they were struck by a vehicle in St. Louis as they were walking on the street to possibly avoid an icy sidewalk.
In a news release shared with PEOPLE, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) said that, based on a preliminary investigation, Shirley Howard, 39, was pushing a stroller westbound in a bike lane on West Florissant Ave. on Monday, Jan. 20, when she and her son were hit.
Authorities noted that Howard was likely walking on the bike lane because the sidewalks were covered in ice.
Then a driver, described by the police as an 80-year-old male, traveling east in his vehicle allegedly veered into the bike lane, fatally striking the woman and injuring her child before "crashing through a snowbank, and into a house."
Related: 18-Year-Old Son and Mom Killed in Crash While They Were Returning Home from College Orientation
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The SLMPD said the child was immediately taken to a hospital, adding the driver remained on the scene and cooperated with authorities. He was then sent to a hospital for observation.
A SLMPD spokesperson told PEOPLE on Monday, Jan. 27, that the investigation remains ongoing,
A GoFundMe was created on behalf of Howard and her injured son, identified as Amir, 2.
“Ice was pushed onto the curb,” according to Shanika Johnson, the fundraiser’s organizer and Howard's sister. “Shirley was walking in the street because of the icy sidewalk when a motorist struck and killed her and injured Amir.”
“Her family is grieving,” she continued in the description. “Funds are needed for her funeral, for medical expenses for Amir and funds to raise her other child [5-year-old Adonis] who was home at the time of the tragedy.”
Johnson told NBC affiliate KSDK, that Shirley was a caring mother to her two young sons, Amir and Adonis.
“She would do any and everything for them," said Johnson, who also remembered his sister as fun and outgoing.
"She was just headed to the neighborhood store, I guess, to get some things for the house,” Johnson also told KSDK. “And she was just around the corner from the house. My sister had two older sons who are 19 and 20. She and the two youngest ones lived with my mom."
She described what happened to her sister as “extremely heartbreaking," adding that Amir is still in intensive care as he sustained injuries including a fractured skull.
"We are just praying that Amir gets a miracle that he's going to come back and be the same Amir that he was before," said Johnson.
Weather forecasters had warned of frigid temperatures bringing “dangerous cold” to the St. Louis area early last week, KSDK reported.
“They are covered in ice and the snow is packed,“ Lewis Richardson, who lives near the crash site, told the same outlet. “It's really, really frozen. You can't walk on the sidewalk because it's slick."
PEOPLE contacted Shanika Johnson for comment on Monday, Jan. 27.
Read the original article on People
