Two Haredi children were rushed to the hospital two weeks ago after they suffered serious traffic injuries on the streets of Spring Valley. The injuries occurred less than one mile apart on Monday, June 5 and Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Both incidents were captured by security cameras, and the graphic footage has circulated in Haredi WhatsApp groups. In the June 5 security camera footage, obtained by Shtetl, three young boys supervised by a woman can be observed walking along on the sidewalk of Union Ave, a bidirectional road without lane markings or a shoulder.

There is no audio to the footage, but seemingly without warning, one of the boys runs onto the road and into the path of an SUV, which knocks him into the air and drives out of the frame. The boy hits the ground and rolls, lying motionless on the curb before being dragged onto the sidewalk by one of the two standing children.

Within a minute, pedestrians and drivers of pulled-over vehicles surround the group of four. Police and Hatzoloh arrive on the scene within three minutes. 

The Rockland Daily broke the news less than an hour after the 6:45pm incident, stating that the 8-year-old boy, taken by Hatzoloh to Westchester Trauma Center, was in “serious condition.” 

Photos of a young boy, identified in the caption as the son of a Hatzoloh volunteer, were posted to “The Monsey Scoop” Whatsapp group on June 8 with the caption: 

“[The child] exhibited quick thinking when he saved his friend from further harm by dragging him off the street after he was hit by a car in Spring Valley earlier this week. This action prevented his friend from being hit by another vehicle. In recognition of his courageous act, Hatzoloh presented him with an award and also honored him with an official Hatzoloh ID card.”

In an interview with Shtetl, Rabbi Yosef C. Golding, Executive Director of Rockland Hatzoloh, said the award was “not official.” “Friends and colleagues of the Hatzoloh member got together,” he said. “[They] wanted to build up the kid and thank him.” 

Golding noted that one should avoid moving a person with a fresh traumatic injury unless necessary to protect them from “direct danger.” He declined to say whether moving the boy was the correct action in this case.

The Rockland Daily reported that the driver of the black SUV fled the scene initially but returned at around 7:25pm, when he was questioned by police. 

Spring Valley police detective Matthew Galli told Shtetl on June 9 that the police were not considering the June 5 or 7 incident a hit-and-run and that both drivers were “on [the] scene for investigative purposes.”

In the June 7 footage captured at about 5:05pm, a young boy wearing a bright yellow shirt rides his bike down North Rigaud Road, a residential street, and out of the frame. He reappears on a driveway and cycles again to the middle of the street, which has no visible bike lanes or sidewalks.

Within a couple seconds, a red Prius comes into the frame, plows the boy forward on its front bumper, and exits the frame. The boy lifts himself, limps to the nearest driveway, and drops to his hands and knees. A Haredi pedestrian and school bus driver immediately rush to assist him. 

“Jewishbreakingnews” posted the June 7 footage to its Instagram account the day of the incident with a caption claiming the driver “commit[ted] a hit and run” and that police were investigating it as a “possible hate crime” after apprehending the driver. 

Galli said the police were investigating both collisions as accidents only, “without charges.”

Discernible on the red Prius’ passenger door is a blurred logo resembling the logo of International Taxi Service Corp., a taxi service operating in Rockland County with an advertised fleet of more than 200 vehicles. A woman identifying on the phone as the manager of International declined to comment on the June 7 incident and directed Shtetl to the police. 

A local taxi driver unaffiliated with International who wished to remain anonymous for fear of scrutiny expressed sympathy with the driver of the red Prius. “A lot of people talk bad about drivers and the taxi system in Spring Valley. It can happen to anyone, not [just] a taxi driver,” she said about the incident.

The taxi driver, who said she had seen the June 7 footage, conceded that the driver of the Prius appears to have been “speeding” but suggested parents should watch children more closely.

“I am a mother,” she said. “I understand it’s summer and they want to play. But they [taxi drivers] are transporting customers every day. If you drive around Monsey you can see that there are a lot of kids on the streets without any parents watching them.” Both collisions took place within the limits of Spring Valley.

Golding says Hatzoloh was “right on the scene” of the June 7 incident, too, but could not share details about either collision due to HIPAA rules. He mentioned “increased” incidence of “child trauma” in the summer due to outdoor play and had an unequivocal message about “parents’ responsibility.”

“Parents should not allow their child to be riding rollerblades or bikes or motorized scooters without supervision, absolutely,” he said. 

Lawrence Levine, a civil engineer and traffic safety expert witness based in Saratoga County, took another hardline stance, saying there is “no excuse” for pedestrian accidents. He pointed to the model of Hoboken, New Jersey, which reported zero traffic deaths from 2019-2022, in the wake of grassroots activism and a series of road infrastructure changes.

“It’s possible to have zero pedestrian accidents,” he said, “and Hoboken is a whole lot busier [than Spring Valley].” He added that people “have to decide if they want pedestrian safety and bicycle safety to be paramount. It’s a community decision. Once they make that decision, there are all kinds of federal monies and state monies available for safety programs.” He cited projects such as complete streets and traffic calming, through which one Hudson Valley town received more than 3 million dollars in funding last year to create sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, and other infrastructure. 

Referring to the June 7 security camera footage, Golding said, “It’s a miracle the child got up afterward.” 

The current condition of both children is unknown.