A young mom and her baby were rushed to the hospital in serious condition Monday afternoon after they were hit on Dover Road in Clarksville.
Dover, also known as Hwy 79, is a street with few options for pedestrians. There are no sidewalks or shoulders and portions of the road contains high grass lining the street.
It's the drive between Clarksville and Woodlawn thousands make every day. But Monday 20-year-old Ashli Mancil made it on foot, pushing her 1-year-old son Jacen in a stroller when they were hit.
"A lot of these people that live in these rentals have one car in the family," explained retired Clarksville police officer Tim Chandler, "so if the husband or wife takes the car to work then that leaves whoever's left at home to walk wherever they go."
Chandler has lived in the area for more than 30 years. He says places like Kroger and K-Mart are close enough to walk, but says the road itself is a big problem.
"It has no sidewalks, speed limit is 45 miles an hour," he said, noting the road is a major highway, not a simple side street.
Where the Mancils were hit, near N Liberty Church Rd, the grass was much too high to roll a stroller off the road.
THP troopers say it happened around 1:45 p.m. when one woman stopped her car in the right lane to ask the young mom if she needed a ride. They say another car, driven by 18-year-old Robert Moore, came up from behind, swerving to the right to avoid the car. But he hit mom and child instead.
"I's tragic," Chandler said, "there's no excuse for that to have happened."
Ashli's last post to Facebook around noon gives a look into what she was doing.
"They're not out there walking for pleasure," Chandler said of the many people who walk on Dover Road every day, "they're walking for necessity."
A gofundme account has been started to help the family pay for medical costs. To donate, click here.
