HIT-RUN INCIDENT INJURES CHILD
By JESSE HAMILTON; Courant Staff Writer
Police on Sunday were looking for a hit-and-run driver whose car critically injured an 8-year-old Hartford girl, who was struck after she got a treat from an ice-cream van.
About 4 p.m., with ice cream in hand, Livia Freitas stepped from beside the Good Humor van back toward her home across residential Curtiss Street. A car hit the girl in the street in front of her home and kept going, police said.
Livia, of 25 Curtiss St., was listed in critical condition late Sunday at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
Witnesses described the car as a bluish-green Nissan Altima with a loud muffler, occupied by a young female driver and a passenger.
Neighbors heard the impact and rushed into the street, in the block just off Zion Street. They found the girl lying there.
Julio Conde was in a garage with others at a house next door when they heard "a big boom, a really big boom." Then, he said, "I heard kids screaming."
As others stayed with the girl, he rushed to follow the car he saw at the end of the block turning onto Zion. Conde got into his car, but by the time he made the first turn, he couldn't see the other car.
Savas Avci was the driver of the ice cream van, whose side opening was facing away from the accident, toward the sidewalk.
"I was selling ice cream," he said. "I heard a crash. I didn't see the car."
He said the van's music was blaring and the revolving yellow light on top was on. There were several children around.
While detectives examined the scene a few hours later, Avci sat near the Ford Econoline van, adorned with colorful ice-cream ads. Another ice-cream van's music could be heard a few blocks away.
A next-door neighbor, Susan Hall, said this was not the first time a child had been struck by a car on Curtiss. "The cars are ridiculous here," she said. "I just wish they would put some bumps down here."
Det. Claudette Kosinski, the accident investigator, said anyone with information about the incident or driver should call her at 860-527-7300, Ext. 5454.