By: Bob McCarty
Bob McCarty Writes
A tragedy took place on Chicago’s South Side early Friday morning. Who is to blame for it is, perhaps, the question mostly ignored by the Windy City’s two major dailies.
Reports this morning in both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune offer mostly-basic details about the tragedy:
Trenton Booker, 13, is dead and charges are pending against an unnamed off-duty Chicago police officer who allegedly struck and killed the boy in a hit-and-run accident in the 8000 block of South Ashland. About to graduate from the eighth grade, the boy was riding his bike at 1:30 a.m. when he was struck and killed by a car driven by the 39-year-old police officer and 17-year veteran of the force.
The Tribune account takes it a bit further, citing witnesses who reported seeing the police officer’s car running a red light, hitting the boy on the bike and then speeding off. If true, the officer certainly must shoulder much of the blame for the tragedy. But there’s more to go around.
What kind of parents allow their 13-year-old to roam the streets of one of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods after midnight and, presumably, on a school night?
Perhaps the tragedy is too fresh on the minds of readers for the Chicagoland newspapers to raise questions of parental responsibility. Until that question is addressed, it will stand like an elephant in the newsroom of my mind.
See also: To ready about my personal experience with the South Ashland neighborhood, read this post.
