Driver faces no charges in trike death

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) - A small cross marks the spot where 2-year-old Albert Medina-Razo was struck and killed while riding his tricycle in an alley behind his home -- a constant reminder to his parents and neighbors.

On Friday, some of those neighbors said they were divided over the Muskegon County prosecutor's ruling that the driver would not face charges.

Some say the 45-year-old woman should pay with criminal charges; others say she's suffered enough.

"It's hard, you know. They both lost," neighbor Brenda Roberts said. "She's got to live with that feeling, and they have to live with the loss."

Albert's parents told 24 Hour News 8 they've hired an attorney and did not want to talk about the ruling.

The boy was riding his tricycle in an alley behind his home about 1 p.m. on July 2 when he was struck and killed by the SUV.

"I heard this like drag, then all of a sudden, I heard a baby crying, and before I could get to the back of the house, the baby was pinned underneath the truck," said neighbor Robin Ervin.

By the time other neighbors got there, the driver was standing outside the SUV, as if frozen.

"She was just standing there. She was in shock," neighbor Doris Davis said.

Muskegon police say they agree with the ruling not to file charges. They say the driver could not see Albert from her SUV. They say there was no evidence of speeding and no alcohol or drugs in her system.

Some neighbors, though, say they'd previously warned the woman to slow down. She takes the alley to reach her garage and children play back there.

"We always ask her, not just me, several women around here with their babies have asked her to slow down running through the alley," Ervin said. "She don't pay us no mind. She fly just right by."

"If we can't let the kids play in the back, where can they play at?" Ervin added.

Other neighbors say the woman has driven the alley for years and they'd never seen her drive too fast, that she even blows her horn to warn kids.

"When she comes to the alley, she slows down and she blows," said Doris Davis, who lives adjacent to the alley. "That alley is not a playground, and that's where the kids play at, it's a street, and people don't realize that."

The woman still lives in the same home, but neighbors say she keeps to herself.

"I know she's going through a lot of hell over it," Brenda Roberts said. "She's trying to get through it."