An 8-year-old boy has died after the ATV he was riding on flipped in a Temple Hills, Maryland, cul-de-sac, police said Friday.
Prince George’s County police did not respond to the original incident and were only notified by D.C. police on Tuesday, after the boy died at Children’s National Medical Center in the District.
County police then investigated and learned that on Sept. 1, the boy was riding on an ATV in the 5000 block of Janis Lane in Temple Hills. A 15-year-old boy was driving the ATV, police said, and another 8-year-old boy was also on the vehicle.
The boy who died, who police have identified as Kemel Bonilla-Reyes of Temple Hills, was sitting on the gas tank and holding on to the handlebars when the ATV flipped.
A family member took Bonilla-Reyes to a D.C. hospital; police said he was then transferred to Children’s National Medical Center, where he died.
“No police report was made at that time,” said Prince George’s County police Lt. Harkirat Singh. “We just want to reach out to the community and tell them that riding ATVs on roads is extremely dangerous for the people riding it and also other motorists on the road.”
“It’s reckless. It’s dangerous to the community,” Singh added.
Police are still investigating why the ATV flipped. They are also awaiting autopsy results.
“This is a tragic situation. We are going to get to the bottom of what happened and how it happened,” said Prince George’s County police Chief Hank Stawinski in a statement Friday. “As we conduct this investigation, we continue to urge all those who ride ATVs to please do so only in a safe and legal manner so we can prevent these types of heartbreaking outcomes in the future.”
WTOP’s Michelle Basch contributed to this report.
