Two cars going 50 to 60 mph, apparently making a get-a-way from a suspected theft at the Maplewood Commons Walmart, speeded west on Rosalie Avenue in Brentwood as 10 parents and children gathered around an ice cream truck at the intersection at Swim Club Lane Monday around 4:30 p.m., according to three witnesses. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Cindy Manestar, who lives on Rosalie, said her youngest son was on his bicycle to go to the park on the corner. He had heard the ice cream truck.
Then, “a car just flew – I couldn’t believe how fast the car was going,” Manestar said Tuesday. “I tried to run down to the sidewalk, and yelled, slow down, but obviously they had no idea.”
Angie Wahlig-Hulshoff, who also lives on the block, said she saw the driver look over at the crowd at the ice cream truck, “then still hit the gas, there were no tail lights at any point,” she said.
Manestar said the first car went west on Eulalie Avenue and cut over to Rosalie at the park, and a second car, going even faster, drove straight down Rosalie.
Neighbor, Jane Torres, said a woman holding a child had taken a step in front of the ice cream truck.
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“It was split-second reaction, so I just yelled, ‘Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!’ So she stopped, and there’s a little boy that knows my other son, Jason,” Torres said. “She stopped, he stopped. We are yelling this right as the car is going through the intersection.”
They said a Maplewood Police car followed the two cars after about 10 seconds, and the crowd pointed them in the direction the cars went.
Maplewood Sgt. Matt Nighbor said Maplewood officers lost the cars after they turned onto Litzsinger. “They were long gone. There was no pursuit,” he said. Nighbor said Walmart security got the plates, and the vehicles and suspects have been identified but not apprehended.
Torres said she had been concerned about Rosalie being a cut-through when they moved there.
“At other streets you see the metal saw horses so people have to drive around them, or the chain at the end of the street that opens at high traffic and closes during play time. Something like that needs to happen,” she said, “because it really operates as a thoroughfare for Hanley to Brentwood.”
I live on Rosalie or as I sometimes call it “South Outer 40” and every day vehicles exceed the speed limit…by a lot.
The speed limit is 20 mph. The increase in traffic and speed came during the re-construction of Hwy40 when drivers were searching for a way around the construction, and it has just continued.
Rosalie is a fire lane and cannot be closed off because the fire and emergency vehicles need quick access.
Maybe the police could check traffic on Rosalie.
I have seen this also. If need be, put a STOP sign at every 3 to 4 way intersection and let the City pick up the fines for speeding and not coming to a full stop. We don’t need to be the new “Rock Hill” for tickets, but this is a residential area after the Black Creek bridge and the walking trail. If anyone got hurt or worse, there would be NO EXCUSE for what is a known hazard.
How scary! This, coupled with the woman who had a seizure while driving on Big Bend and the woman who was hit and killed in the Walgreens parking lot a few days ago, make me want to hide away inside my home. An irrational response, of course, but goodness, even buying ice cream, playing in your backyard and picking up your prescription can be dangerous!
I can’t wait for the Shrewsbury WalMart to open. Hopefully the thieves and troublemakers that result in a near constant presence of multiple Maplewood police officers will move on to greener pastures.
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