Motorcyclist hits child, then flees

A motorcyclist slammed into a 4-year-old St. Paul boy on his way to his own birthday party Saturday, critically injuring the boy, and then sped off.

The boy, Tyrell Baymon, was holding his mother's hand as she loaded party supplies into her SUV about 1 p.m. Saturday when his uncle, Andre Scroggins, saw the motorcyclist doing wheelies down the 300 block of Lafond Avenue W. and screamed at him to stop.

"I yelled, 'Stop! Stop! There are children here!'" said Scroggins, who estimated that the motorcycle was traveling as fast as 60 miles per hour. "As he came down from one of the wheelies, the front end of the motorcycle hit Tyrell. He flew about four car lengths and rolled under a minivan" that was parked on the opposite side of the street.

The little boy was unconscious when family members reached him.

Scroggins' 4-year-old daughter, Anjanee, saw the crash from the sidewalk. "She said, 'My cousin is dead,'" her father reported.

Marcia Phillips-Scroggins, Tyrell's mother, pulled the boy out from under the minivan and waited for an ambulance. Paramedics took him to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he was in critical condition Saturday night.

On a sunny, steamy Saturday, family members in the Frogtown neighborhood had been on their way to Como Park for a combined birthday party for the cousins. Tyrell turned 4 on Saturday, Anjanee on Thursday.

"I wanted to burst into tears," he said. "How can someone do that? How can you hit someone and just keep going and leave them on the side of the road like roadkill?"

Police are asking for the public's help in finding the motorcyclist. They are looking for a royal blue sport bike that likely has front-end damage. The driver is believed to be a man in his 20s wearing his hair in cornrows, and police say he spoke with a Jamaican accent.

Anyone with information can call police at 651-291-1111.

"We know that there have been a lot of motorcycles out today because of the nice weather," said St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla. "We're hoping that somebody is going to see a bike that has damage that it didn't have this morning.

"This boy has suffered very critical injuries," he said. "Anything the public can do to bring the family some respite would be appreciated."

But Janita Jones, Andre Scroggins' wife, said she had seen the motorcyclist speeding down the street just moments before Tyrell was hit.

"He went down the street one way, then turned around and came back," she said.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392