Labor Day weekend is usually a time for celebration, but for mixed martial artist, Marcus Kowal and his family, it was a time for mourning.
According to the Hawthorne, California Police Department, a fifteen-year-old female was pushing Kowal’s 15-month-old son, Liam Mikael Kowal, in his stroller when 72-year-old Donna Marie Higgins drove through the crosswalk and hit both the girl and the infant.
Higgins tried to flee the scene of the crime, but witnesses followed her and blocked her vehicle with their own until police arrived. It was later discovered that she was drunk.
At the time of the report, she was being held at Hawthorne jail on $100,000 bail.
Officers responded to the incident at 4:15pm on September 3. When they arrived, they found the young girl suffering from leg injuries.
Liam was in far more serious condition though. According to the report, he was “pulseless and not breathing” in his stroller.
The officers administered CPR to the baby while awaiting LA County Fire and Rescue units. Rescuers rushed Liam and the girl to the UCLA Medical Center. At the time of the report the 15-year-old was in “stable condition.”
Liam, however, was not so lucky. After being treated in the ICU, the fifteen-month-old succumbed to his injuries and passed away.
However, the ordeal is not over for Marcus Kowal and his grieving family. They need help paying for medical and funeral costs.
If you can, please go to their gofundme page and send anything you can. Every little bit helps.
We hear at the Jiu-Jitsu Times send our sincerest sympathies to the Kowal family and wish them the best through this deeply troubling time.
