EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -
A 10-year-old bicycle rider is doing better on Monday after being hurt in a traffic accident over the weekend.
It happened Sunday at Morgan and Aviation on Evansville's east side.
50-year-old Donald Catiller has been arrested because police say he was driving without a license when the trailer he was pulling hit 10-year-old Jaivontae Armstrong, who suffered a serious head injury.
An eyewitness to this crash tells 14 News that Jaivontae was riding on the sidewalk on Morgan toward Weinbach. She says once he crossed Aviation, he went to turn around and head the other way. That's when she watched as he pulled out into traffic on busy Morgan Avenue and was hit by that trailer.
Jaivontae's grandmother says he is in the fourth grade, and this little boy now has some big obstacles ahead of him. She says he's been able to wiggle his fingers and toes, but isn't talking much after being hit by a trailer on Sunday afternoon.
"It breaks my heart to think about it," said a neighbor who wants to remain anonymous.
She's a mom who lives a few blocks over and has eight year old and ten year old boys of her own who ride bikes in the neighborhood. She says she does worry about them.
"I mean, it's a fairly quiet neighborhood but I mean you never know traffic, people not paying attention running down these roads, driving too fast, yeah," she said.
Mike Flanagan has seen plenty of that.
He also lives near the scene of Sunday's crash and says drivers are responsible for watching out for pedestrians and bicyclists.
"The kids are having fun and they deserve to have the time to have that fun. So it's up to them to protect them by every means available to us. If that means when you're driving your car, watch out for kids then by all means do so," said Flanagan.
Evansville Police say the primary cause of the crash at this point appears to be Jaivontae not yielding to traffic. But that won't keep neighbors from thinking and praying for him.
Which is exactly what his grandmother wants to hear.
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Donald Catiller. Source: Vanderburgh County Jail.
Jaivontae Armstrong in 2006
