Boy Injured After Being Hit By SUV is Improving, Father Says

The boy near a busy Novato intersection is doing better and could be moved out of a hospital intensive care unit soon, according to his father.

Richard Mahaffey Jr., a freshman at , darted out in front of traffic at about 6:40 p.m. Friday and was struck by an SUV driven by a 47-year-old Novato man, according to police and fire reports. The vehicle was traveling at about 40 mph near the intersection of Novato Boulevard and Tamalpais Avenue/Seventh Street when the incident occurred, police said.

On Monday night, Richard Mahaffey Sr. said his son had been in an induced coma and breathing with the aid of a ventilator at Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland since Friday night. The boy has severe scrapes and bruises all over his body, a lacerated kidney, a fractured hip and a broken jaw.

“It’s really going pretty well (at the hospital),” said Mahaffey Sr., who is staying with his wife, Melissa, at an Emeryville hotel to be close to the hospital. “We can’t ask for better help from the staff. They are Grade-A people. They’re treating him like he’s their own kid.”

The younger Mahaffey had his ventilator tube removed and now has a very sore throat, his father said.

“He’s in a lot of pain, but he knows where he is now,” Mahaffey Sr. said. “You get one of two words out of him and then he’s back out again. He’s mumbling a lot.”

Mahaffey Sr. said he dropped his son off at nearby and headed toward his home about one mile to the west. He got to his house, settled in for a few minutes and then received a call from the mother of one of Mahaffey Jr.’s friends, who said Mahaffey Jr. had been hit by a car on Novato Boulevard.

“I know when I dropped him off that the friend he was meeting was down the street on the other side of the road, and I told him to be careful,” Mahaffey Sr. said. “Junior runs around on (Novato Boulevard) all day every day because most of his friends live off there.”

Mahaffey Jr., who plays kickoff returner and linebacker for the San Marin High freshman football team, was excited about Saturday’s big game against Novato High and was upset to miss it, his father said. The family has contacted San Marin teammates and a possible team visit to the hospital is in the works, he said.

Mahaffey Sr. said his employer, Home Depot in Napa, and his wife’s employer, the Hamilton Marketplace Safeway in Novato, have been very understanding and supportive. The family moved from Georgia two years ago, and Melissa Mahaffey’s mother is taking care of Mahaffey Jr.’s sister at the family home.

“We have made good friends here and feel a lot of support,” Mahaffey Sr. said.

He added that he is thankful for the quick first-aid response of the SUV driver, the and .

“I don’t have a clue who the man was, but I hope he’s doing OK,” Mahaffey Sr. said. “It’s got to be traumatizing in itself from his end of it. I do not blame him for it. From what I understand, Junior just popped out from the middle of nowhere in front of him. I don’t understand why he didn’t see the car coming.”