A traffic light was planned to be activated next week at the intersection where an 11-year-old boy lost his life in South Bend.
That’s according to South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who held a press conference with other city leaders to discuss the fatal incident where a car struck and killed the boy at the corner of South and Michigan Streets.
“That signal has been in the process of being installed, and will be installed shortly.” Buttigieg said during the press conference. “But I do want to stress that we simply don’t know whether it would have made any difference yesterday morning as two children darted across the street at an angle and one of them outside the crosswalk was struck and killed.”
This comes after a 2015 study determined there wasn’t a need for traffic lights at that intersection, and almost exactly one year ago, bags were placed over the lights. Community feedback made city officials change their mind.
Police say there’s no signs the driver had been speeding or using drugs when the collision occurred at about 7 a.m. Monday. 11-year-old Tristan Moore was hit and killed just south of the intersection as he tried to pass with his 8-year-old brother to catch a Transpo bus to school.
Moore attended Success Academy in South Bend, according to a GoFundMe account set up by relatives collecting donations for the boy’s funeral.
The 54-year-old man who was driving the vehicle that struck Moore has been cooperating with police, according to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office.
