KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two children were pulled from underneath a car that crashed through their daycare Tuesday afternoon on Kansas City’s eastside.
Fire and emergency crews responded to Christian Academy daycare at about 1 p.m.
“They hit the 2-year-old room,” said Daniel Maranney, a 7-year-old inside the day care at the time of the accident. “My heart just started beating faster.”
Police confirmed that a Cadillac Seville was parked when a Range Rover SUV, driven by a 79-year-old man, hit it and shoved the Cadillac into the Christian Academy Daycare Center on East 27th Street between Monroe and Askew avenues. The car that went through the building briefly caught fire, but firefighters quickly put it out.
“You have to come, a car ran into the day care,” said Mamie Maranney, Daniel’s mother, describing the panic in her son’s trembling voice.
One child was pulled from underneath the car before emergency crews arrived. Another child was trapped under a vehicle. A third child was also injured and taken to the hospital. The driver of the Range Rover was hurt in the accident, police said.
Around 7:30 p.m., Tuesday evening, two of the children were released. The third child, a 5-year-old, remains in the hospital for observation, a spokesperson said.
“One child was pulled out by bystanders including an off-duty police department member. The other child was taken out by firefighters with air bags and jaws of life. There was an off duty police department employee that so happened to be behind one of the vehicles when it happened and he helped clear the debris and pull one of those kids out,” Battalion Chief James Garrett with the Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department said.
About 40 children were inside the daycare at the time of the crash.
One mother, who asked not to be identified, told FOX 4 her child has bumps and bruises, but is otherwise OK, adding she was more “freaked out” by the incident than her own child.
Police initially thought the driver of the Cadillac Seville fled on foot, but they now believe the driver was not at the scene at the time.
Police have not ruled out a medical emergency as a cause for the crash. Kansas City Power & Light was out for most of the evening repair power lines that toppled in the accident.
‘God is good,’ grandmother of hurt child says
“The day care lady called me and she said a car ran into the side of the building at the day care,” said Shayla Davis. Her son, Zyaire, was one of three children taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital.
“I instantly got up and drove to the day care to make sure my kids was (sic) okay.”
It’s then Davis would learn her son was hurt. “I saw my kid’s name on a piece of paper. I just started panicking and they told me he’s in the hospital and the car was on top of him, but he’s okay.”
Davis, along with her mother MarQuita Davis, drove straight the hospital. They told FOX 4 neither one of them calmed down until they saw Zyaire.
“He said when he looked up there was a big car on top of him and all he could see was the wheels,” Shayla said.
“I was just so happy when I started talking to him. I said, ‘your KiKi is here’ and he opened his eyes and looked at me like ‘I’m okay. My mama’s here. My KiKi is here,'” MarQuita said.
As of Tuesday evening, the 5-year-old is the only child still left in the hospital. He’s being kept under observation and has a fractured hip, the hospital told FOX 4.
The Davis family have seven children total at the day care facility. And, if they have it their way, they say that will continue.
“My kids have been there for four years. That’s the only day care I feel comfortable my kids going to,” Shayla said.
The Davis family also believes there was a higher power at work protecting the approximately 40 kids inside.
“Yes, God is good,” MarQuita said.
