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MR. IRA SLAVIT: Handling a case of a child who was a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle can present different challenges than when the pedestrian is an adult.

Very often when it's a child, besides from the obvious sympathy, very often you have claims that the child darted out from between parked cars or was chasing a ball or something where perhaps the driver of the vehicle might have an excuse.

Very often we've handled cases where the police report, in fact, is very harmful to the pedestrian and makes it seem like the child came out of nowhere and there was nothing that the driver can do.

In handling those cases we've been successful in contacting witnesses and reviewing statements made to the police by drivers. And most importantly, by taking thorough depositions of the drivers, we've been able to uncover situations where the driver almost admits that he was maybe looking for a parking space and then that's why he didn't see the pedestrian, or some other factor that gives us a chance.

So it's important for clients to not necessarily be discouraged by a police report, but to go to an experienced attorney who can investigate the entire situation and hopefully obtain compensation for the child.