NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A 3-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital after she took her father’s three-wheeled motorcycle and crashed it into a wall in Northeast Miami-Dade.
A day after the crash, the child’s family refused to talk on camera but said the girl was going to be OK.
Miami-Dade Police and Fire Rescue units were dispatched to the scene along Northeast 163rd Street and Sixth Avenue, just after 5:30 p.m., Wednesday.
Surveillance video from a nearby gas station shows the girl inside the roadster dragging her father through an intersection before she flies out.
MDPD Detective Lee Cowart said, “The father sustained his injuries as he was trying to mount the motorcycle to render aid to her, thus the motorcycle dragged him on the asphalt street.”
The gas station’s manager told 7News he rushed outside as soon as he heard the impact.
“I was inside the store, so when I came out, it was the little kid on the floor,” Andres Gomes said. “Honestly, I thought she was dead.”
Both child and father remain in the hospital, Thursday afternoon.
Miami-Dade Police said the father parked the vehicle at a Northeast Miami-Dade home, but some noise alerted the family and father to something going on outside.
“One of the persons in the house heard the motorcycle engine rev up, and that’s what alarmed them,” Cowart said. “They went outside and found the daughter and the motorcycle traveling westbound on the street.”
The girl’s 35-year-old father tried to get a hold of the motorcycle while chasing it on foot but failed. Instead, he ended up being dragged down the westbound lanes of 163rd Street and through the intersection at Sixth Avenue before the crash.
Moments later, the motorcycle, which police believe was a BRP Can-Am Spyder Roadster, crashed into a barrier wall at a Westar gas station.
“The father was crazy trying to wake her up,” Gomes recounted.
People at or near the gas station stopped to aid the girl before paramedics arrived to rush her to the hospital.
“We called 911,” Gomes said. “It was a nurse around the area. She came. She gave her the first aid, and that’s it.”
The roadster was towed away from the scene and investigators are looking into what happened.
“It’s preliminary right now in the investigation,” said Cowart, “so not faulting the father, not faulting anybody at this point, but it’s a reminder to secure your vehicle, secure your motorcycle, lock your valuables up inside and lock the doors, take your keys with you, and we do have a better chance of something like this from recurring in the future.”
“We have to be careful with the child,” Gomes echoed. “They can be playing one second, and then after, it’s something like that.”
Rescue crews transported the father to a local hospital while the girl was airlifted to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. She was last listed in serious condition but it remains unknown what injuries she sustained.
On Thursday night, friends of the family gathered at their home to wish them well.
One of the them told 7News that the young girl will be fine.
“She’s gonna be OK because she’s with the doctor,” the friend said.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Children and Families said they have launched a child protective investigation.
It’s unclear if there will be any charges filed.
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