"The puddle made my pants wet," said 4-year-old Nicky Ringstad, recalling some key moments of what happened after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while trick-or-treating Wednesday night.
He was one of three children hit by cars within minutes of 7:30 p.m. on a dark, rainy Halloween.
No details were immediately available about the conditions of the other two -- a 4-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother -- who were struck and injured in a crosswalk at Dutton Avenue and West Eighth Street. But authorities earlier said their injuries were non-life-threatening.
Police did not return calls Thursday about whether an arrest had been made or a suspect identified in Nicky's case.
The chatty, black-haired boy was discharged from hospital after three hours.
He had been dressed as Batman when he was hit by a car backing out of driveway a few doors away from the Ringstads' home on Echo Lake Way. The street is short, quiet and just west of A Place to Play sports field complex on West Third Street.
The car's driver "was in the driveway talking to the guy who lived there and we were walking by trick-or-treating when he backed out really fast," said Nicky's father, Bill Ringstad.
"On the sidewalk, walking on the sidewalk," added Qing Ringstad, Nicky's mother.
The driver then sped off across a lawn, headed down Fulton View, a short spur of a road, then onto West Third Street and away, Bill Ringstad said.
The resident of the house, whom police questioned, said he knew at least the man's first name, Ringstad said. No one was home at the house Thursday, but tracks were visible on the lawn.
"He was airborne, knocked way back out into the street," Ringstad said of his son. "He's OK now, just a bump on his noggin."
"And a big scratch on my back," Nicky added.
Two miles east, residents near the scene of the other accident, at Dutton Avenue and West Eighth Street, described frightening events from the night before.
"It was terrible. We just heard a thump and just terrible screams," said Kathryn Bergstrom, whose house overlooks the crosswalk in which the siblings were struck. Her husband called 911. "It haunts you," she said.
Other neighbors said the children were part of a larger family group. Initial reports from authorities were that the two children were with parents but darted ahead in the crosswalk, which traverses four lanes and a turning aisle.
No warning signals were visible but for a sign that appeared to be painted a reflective green and that displays a pedestrian.
"It's a horrible intersection; all my kids have had close calls," said Nancy Kite.
She said she stood over the girl who, after being hit, lay in the crosswalk, with an umbrella until emergency crews arrived. The older brother had been knocked further up the street, Kite said.
The driver who hit the children had pulled over and soon he ran over, saying. "I'm so sorry; I have a 5-year-old," Kite said.
You can reach Staff WriterJeremy Hay at 521-5212or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
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