Teen boy struck by car; breaks leg

A walk home after school was disrupted Tuesday afternoon when Willie Littrell, 13, stepped of the curb on Weston Street and was struck by a car.

Heavy school traffic was detoured around the scene.

Children walking home craned their necks to see what was happening.

One woman ran up to the scene wondering if the boy was her son lying on the pavement. She sobbed in relief when she realized it wasn’t.

Another woman cried into the phone to a friend saying she hadseen the accident. Visibly shaken, she shook as she told police about the incident.

The car, a white Hyundai, was driven by Sandra Hedlund who had just picked up her three children from school Tuesday, Oct. 25. She was southbound onWeston Street near the intersection with Mc-Culloch Street just south of the Middle School.

“The traffic was heavy. I was going really slow and the next thing I knew, he had hit the car,” Hedlund said. She said she ran to Littrell, who was sitting up, encouraged him to lay down and tried to help him remain calm while waiting for emergency personnel.

Police Sgt. Ryan Walker, also an emergency medical technician, was first on the scene and tended to Littrell until Pea Ridge emergency personnel arrived. He was transported to Mercy Medical Center by Bentonville Ambulance.

Two starbursts shattered the windshield of the car driven by Hedlund, 51, of Pea Ridge.

Littrell’s backpack lay nearby and one of his shoes sat beneath the rear bumper of the car on the black pavement.

Littrell, the son of Angela Littrell, suffered a broken left leg and bumps, cuts and bruises, Ms. Littrell said. He was released from the hospital Friday.

“It scared me,” Ms. Littrell said. “I was at the hospital right before he was.

She declined to comment further saying “we have a lawyer.”