Bridgeport boy struck by car

Two weeks ago, Jacob Capobianco, a 12-year-old Bridgeport boy, narrowly escaped serious injury when he was hit by a car while riding his bike on Fourth Street.

His father felt so badly about the mishap that he bought the boy, called Jake, a new Mongoose bike as a gift, according to Michele Romero, a friend of the family.

This afternoon, Jake was again riding a bike on Fourth Street, this time near Depot Street, when he was struck by another car. This time he wasn't so lucky; the gray Honda Civic hit the boy with such force that the windshield bore the imprint of his forehead.

But rather than flee the scene, the driver, who was too distraught to give his name, stopped, picked up the boy, placed him in the Honda's back seat and drove a block to the Bridgeport Police station at Fourth and Mill Streets.

There police aided the boy, and arranged for him to be taken by helicopter to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia where he was being evaluated.

Upper Merion Police Sgt. Christopher Bird confirmed that the boy was hit on Fourth Street and that the driver did deliver him to the police station.

The driver was questioned by Upper Merion and Bridgeport police but not detained.

Witnesses at the scene said Jake was alert and talking when he was being prepared for transport.

"He was conscious," said Romero, "but he doesn't remember what happened."

Romero said Jake's shirt and baseball cap and one sneaker were still in the back seat of the Honda after he was flown to Philadelphia. A man who said he was the boy's father collected the items and headed for Philadelphia.

Jake, Romero said, is a student at the Upper Merion Middle School.

"I've known Jake since he was a baby," Romero said. The boy has a younger brother, Josh, who was spending time with his mother at the time of the accident.

Romero said that Jake had been hit two weeks ago, and only sustained a slight leg injury, but his bike was wrecked.

"That's why he got a new bike," Romero said.

The family lives near the intersection of Fourth and Depot Streets. Romero and Nigel Griffin, 25, a Bridgeport "hardscaper," said that cars frequently pick up speed while moving along Fourth Street from Depot towards DeKalb Pike, Route 202.

"It happened in the same road that he got hit before. Cars go so fast down here," Griffin said, who lives in the 100 block of E. Fourth Street.

"He seems like my little brother," said Griffin. "He would pop a wheelie, but I told him to slow down."

Officials at Children's Hospital were not immediately available to report on Jake's condition.