Moorhead dad warns drivers to slow down, after daughter struck by car

MOORHED, M.N. (Valley News Live) - Most kids walk to catch the school bus in the morning.

Max Israel drives his, even though they only live a block away.

“Even if you live in a safe neighborhood, you’re not really safe,” he says. “Anything can happen.”

This Moorhead dad is warning drivers to slow down, after a scary situation. His 12-year-old daughter, Grace, was crossing the street on her way home from school when she was hit by a car.

Her younger sister, Joella say it, and a neighbor’s ring doorbell caught it on video.

“Joella, the fifth grader, ran home,” Israel says. “She saw it. She said, ‘Mommy, Mommy, come. Grace got hit by a car.’”

The driver stopped to make sure Grace was ok. Israel says he was at work at the time.

“When I got that phone call, when I saw that video, I was very angry,” he says. “It looked like people saw the accident, and nobody wanted to get involved.”

Israel says grace has autism, and he’s talked to her about looking both ways before crossing the road. Police are investigating, and the driver hasn’t been cited. However, Israel wants someone to be held accountable.

“Slow down when driving in our neighborhood.”

Grace went to the doctor and is doing fine. But every time Israel sees this video, he knows it could have been so much worse.

“First, I cried,” he says. “Second, I look at that as a miracle of God.”