LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – A car tangled in playground equipment where kids played.
“I saw him when he came through. And I saw the speed. But after we saw the speed...well, we see that every day,” a witness said.
It made elected officials and neighbors take a step back--and ask what can we do?
“We want to make sure that that never happens in that location ever again,” Metro Council President David James said.
On Jan. 20, three kids playing at the William Harrison park in the Taylor Berry neighborhood were rushed to the hospital when police say William Osbourne lost consciousness and plowed into the playground. Police say Osbourne was driving drunk with a .301 blood alcohol content. That’s nearly four times the legal limit.
“Officers who were on the scene, EMS, we spoke with them immediately. None of them smelled alcohol on Mr. Osbourne,” Lt. Micah Scheu, LMPD Traffic Unit, said.
Osbourne checked himself out of the hospital before police could arrest him--but on Monday officers in Lee County, Florida picked him up on his Louisville charges. Now, neighbors here at home want to make sure this doesn't happen again and they're now looking at adding speed bumps to Oleanda Avenue.
“That is really our first step in controlling traffic and I think we're going to see the desired effects,” Jeff Brown, Metro Public Works, said.
Metro Public Works has proposed two speed bumps between Taylor and Weyler and two more between Weyler and 7th Street Road. They'll cost about $3,000 each and 70 percent of the homeowners on the adjoining properties have to sign a petition in support of the bumps.
And after a scene like the one on Jan. 20, many say it's a small price to pay.