By KIT SLACK
On Saturday, Nov. 16, around 4:30pm, Irma Bonilla was struck by a pickup truck crossing Nicholson at 31st Ave in West Hyattsville, according to neighbors.
They say the driver remained on the scene until an ambulance arrived.
As of press time, Bonilla has emerged from a coma she entered after the accident, and is on a ventilator in an IMCU. Bonilla is recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
Bonilla has been a beloved caregiver at Petit Scholars in Brookland for the past ten years, according to several parents.
Bonilla “is a lovely, lovely woman,” said Bonilla’s neighbor, Sharon O’Donnell, “truly one of the sweetest women.” According to O’Donnell, Bonilla had a kind word for everyone as she took her dog Oto on long walks through the neighborhood. “People blocks and blocks away know who she and her dog are.”
Jessica Hart, who has been a parent at Petit Scholars, created a Gofundme to support Bonilla and her family. Hart is part of the D.C. chapter of the organization Families for Safe Streets, a victim and survivor-led group that advocates to eliminate traffic crashes that kill or seriously injure people.
There is no crosswalk going across Nicholson at 31st Ave in front of Bonilla’s apartment building, where Bonilla was hit. O’Donnell, who has lived in the neighborhood her whole life, said there had been one in that spot when she was a child.
There is a stop sign in the intersection. Neighbors say it appeared that the driver, who was coming down a hill that faces west at sunset, failed to see both Bonilla and the stop sign.
They also say an ambulance took 30 minutes to arrive on the scene. The county has moved career fighters out of some nearby fire stations this summer, creating a concern about local response times.
The city of Hyattsville did work to slow traffic at that intersection in the past year, including painting murals on the street corners, putting up soft plastic poles to narrow the intersection, and moving a stop sign west.
O’Donnell says cars often slow at the stop line where the old stop sign was, and then fail to stop at the new stop sign.
Maryland, and Prince George’s County in particular, have high rates of pedestrian fatalities. Prince George’s County is working to develop a new plan to reduce fatalities and injuries from crashes.
Contributions to support Bonilla and her family and help them with medical expenses can be made at www.gofundme.com/f/ms-irma-needs-us-today
Take the county’s survey to help develop a plan to reduce traffic-related fatalities and injuries here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/8QGKV72
This article was updated on Dec. 10 to add new information.