CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WZZM)- Ottawa County Deputies have cleared the scene of a car versus pedestrian accident at 40th Avenue and Sherman Boulevard in Chester Township.
13 year old Paige Holtz was walking east to a bus stop on Sherman when she was hit by a pick-up truck.
"Yeah I really feel bad for both of them, because I feel no one intended for that to happen," said neighbor David Ward. "It's really an unfortunate thing."
Deputies tell WZZM 13 that the driver, 26 year old Jonathon Cardinal, was distracted when he dropped his cell phone in the truck. The driver also told deputies that the victim was walking in the roadway not on the shoulder.
The girl was transported to Spectrum Health in serious condition.
"My heart goes out to this family, it's just terrible," Said National Safety Council Spokesperson David Teater. "One of the things you struggle with... you have a child who gets seriously injured or you lose a child and it was over a phone call."
Teater's 12 year old son Joseph was killed in 2004 by a distracted driver who was on her cell phone.
Following his son's death, Teater gave up a successful business in Grand Gapids to become the council's Senior Director of Transportation Initiatives in Ohio.
He now tours the country, trying to pass legislation to ban cell phone use while driving and educating others about dangerous distractions.
"This issue of cell phone driving is extremely dangerous and I was angry that we didn't know," he said. "I'm convinced that if she knew how dangerous that activity was or if there had been a law against it in the state of Michigan, she wouldn't have been on the phone and Joe would be alive today."
Teater just recently gave a summit in Washington D.C. on the issue.
Meanwhile, Paige Holtz remains in serious condition.
By Steve PattersonIn your voice
