Police: Boy, 3, fatally hit was let out of child care van across street from Mpls. home

Star Tribune - 6/6/2017

June 06--A 3-year-old boy who was fatally run over Friday in front of his Minneapolis home had just been let out of a child care van on the opposite side of the street, officials said.

Once the northbound Minnesota Best Childcare Center van pulled over to the right curb about 8:30 p.m. Friday in the 2500 block of 17th Avenue S., Hamza Mohoumed Abdillahi exited and walked behind the vehicle toward his home before he was hit by a northbound car while in the two-way street, said Police Sgt. Catherine Michal.

The co-owner of the child care center at 3801 Portland Av. S., Fowsiya Hassan, was contacted Monday and has so far declined to comment.

The van's driver also was not immediately available to explain what happened that night.

Michal said her department is investigating how closely Hamza was being tended to from the moment he stepped off the van until he was hit.

Child care centers in Minnesota and the transportation they provide are regulated by the state Department of Human Services.

Drivers are trained in how to supervise children and reduce risks, the department said in a statement Monday.

Minnesota Best Childcare Center has been cited for various violations over the years in the operation of its facility, but nothing related to transportation services it provides.

Michal said the boy's father "must have been ... in the vicinity" because he rode along in the ambulance with the child to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC).

Passersby tried to help the injured Hamza until emergency crews arrived in the waning moments before sunset.

The boy died about 8:55 p.m. at HCMC.

The driver of the northbound car that hit the boy was identified by police as Thomas A. Hooks Jr., 37, of Brooklyn Park, police said.

Police said that night that Hooks was cooperating with investigators.

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