Deaf toddler run over on birthday

The driver was not impaired and police call it an accident.

WARREN -- A 3-year-old deaf girl is in critical condition in a Cleveland hospital after being run over on her birthday at a Hoyt Street Southwest residence.

Marco Q. Dukes of Ogden Avenue Northwest was taken to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital after the accident at 6:49 p.m. Wednesday, then flown by helicopter to University Hospitals of Cleveland, where she was in the pediatric intensive care unit Thursday.

Police Capt. Timothy Bowers said the child's injuries appeared grave to the officers at the scene. It was her birthday, he noted, and people had gathered at 796 Hoyt, which is at the intersection that street and Tod Avenue.

The driver, Alan Eggleston, 47, of Fifth Street Southwest, has a valid driver's license, and an alcohol test given to him showed no impairment -- "zeroes across the board," Bowers said.

Accidental hit

Warren police traffic investigators said the case is an accident.

"She is deaf, which contributed to the incident," Bowers said. "She's so short, he didn't see her -- and she didn't hear him coming."

There was a vehicle behind Eggleston's, so he planned to turn around in the yard. "He even asked, 'Where's the kids?'" Bowers noted.

There is some indication that Marco then went into the yard to retrieve a personal item.

"Driver was moving the car forward in the driveway when the child was struck," the police report said.

Eggleston is a friend of the child's relatives at the house, police said.

Though the cases are not related, Bowers noted this is the third pedestrian accident in 10 days in Warren involving someone under age 18.