A 12-year-old Tucson girl who was struck by a motorcycle Saturday on the Southeast Side died Sunday afternoon when she was taken off life support, an official said.
Morgan K. Wise was riding a scooter with no motor when she was hit, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Morgan, of the 1200 block of North Arcadia Avenue, was crossing East Rita Road in a marked crosswalk near Purple Heart Park about 5:45 p.m., said Officer Frank Amado, another police spokesman.
Morgan was with another girl — a friend she was visiting — when an eastbound motorcycle in the lane closest to the median struck her, Amado said. Both girls were riding scooters along East Esmond Loop when they crossed Rita Road, he said.
Morgan's friend was not hit by the motorcyclist.
People are also reading…
Both girls began walking their scooters across Rita Road, but Morgan had begun riding hers before she was struck, Amado said. Witness accounts differ as to whether any vehicles had stopped in front of the crosswalk for the girls, he said.
She was flown to a hospital after the collision, said Capt. Norm Carlton, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.
The driver of the motorcycle was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
On Monday afternoon, no citations had been issued to the driver of the motorcycle, identified by police as Joshua Cardoso, 23, Amado said.
Neither girl was wearing a helmet, but it's not required by law for minors to wear helmets while riding those types of scooters, Amado said.
Morgan was a sixth-grader at Doolen Middle School, 2400 N. Country Club Road, said Karen Bynum, a Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman.
So far this year there have been nine traffic fatalities in Tucson, according to police. Last year there were 12 traffic in the same time period.
