The family of a 2-year-old fatally struck by a car in front of his Anne Arundel house is pleading with drivers to slow down on the major highway where they live.
Derrick James Clark Jr., “DJ,” was struck about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as he tried to follow his grandfather, David Clark, across Telegraph Road, a busy two-lane highway in Severn with a posted speed limit of 50 mph, Anne Arundel police said.
“He was real close with his grandfather,” said Derrick Clark, 22, DJ?s father, as he flipped through baby pictures in his wallet Thursday outside his house at 7926 Telegraph Road.
“They spent a lot of time together.”
Before DJ?s grandfather could stop him, DJ walked into the road and was immediately struck by a 2000 Honda Civic driven by Lawrence Shue, 48, of Oakland, police said.
He died about an hour later at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Anne Arundel police said.
“People speed all day long here,” said John Kliever, DJ?s cousin.
“There?s no time to react even at 50 miles per hour.”
The family gathered in the driveway, accepting condolences from friends, family and a local pastor amidst the sound of cars whizzing by the house.
“DJ was a little devil, just like every 2-year-old,” Clark said.
“But he was a good kid.”
Neighbors said DJ always was playing in the yard, which is about 80 feet from Telegraph Road.
“This is a major highway, and it?s the only way in and out of here, so people speed all the time,” said neighbor Kimberly Hoagland, who has warned her 11-year-old son not to play too close to the busy road.
“I have mixed feelings about this, because the speed limit is 50 miles per hour, but I would never wish this one anyone.”
Rachel Onema, 21, who lives in a subdivision off Telegraph Road, said she worries about people speeding so close to her house where she lives with six young children.
“People go so fast, and it?s hard to stop at that speed with peopleright behind you,” she said.
Police said neither speed nor alcohol was a factor, and no charges have been filed. Police could not recall any similar accidents on Telegraph Road.
The family has not made funeral arrangements at this time.
