OAKLAND — In an East Oakland neighborhood recently touched tragically by hit-and-run pedestrian injury and death, area students enjoyed well-earned praise Wednesday for boosting traffic safety.
Manzanita Community Elementary School student Andres Palencia, 9, received a AAA School School Safety Patrol Life-Saving Medal in recognition of his work alongside his classmates Roxana Alejandre, 11.
According to a statement, Catalina Alejandre, an adult advisor, was supervising a school safety patrol squad that includes patrol captain Roxana and patrol squad member Andres one day last December near the school’s East Oakland campus when she saw a small boy run into an intersection.
Catalina managed to run into the intersection, scoop the boy up and return him to safety. But when the boy’s toddler sister had begun to run into the intersection and a truck began approaching, Andres noticed it and blew a whistle that alerted other guards nearby to display their own stop signs.
The truck screeched to a halt in mid-intersection, leaving its front bumper 2 feet from the toddler, who was not injured.
Oakland’s school safety patrol program, one of the country’s oldest and the first formed in the state, is sponsored by the Oakland Police Department’s traffic unit and AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah.
“These inspiring stories are the ones that demonstrate what AAA School Safety Patrol is all about,” said Casey Brennan, director of community impact and public relations for AAA Northern California. “Not only were all three of these award winners prepared for this emergency, they all acted with courage to make sure no one was injured.”
Patrol squad members regularly don yellow hats and sashes and carry stop signs, standing guard along sidewalks and corners to make sure students cross streets safely near the campus, as well as parents and other adults during dropoffs and pickups.
Wednesday’s ceremony also included a pass-in-review from multiple schools’ patrol squads and other awards to distinguished patrollers. It took place at the International Community School/Think College Now auditorium in the 2800 block of International Boulevard, just two blocks away from the site of a fatal hit-and-run collision that claimed a mother and son’s lives.
Days after the collision, many of International Community School’s students and staff marched in memory of their fallen classmate and to support traffic-safety improvements along the corridor.
Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report. Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
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