Islanders sledding in the South end last Thursday were angered by a city maintenance employee trying to plow a residential street. A potentially dangerous incident occurred when a 6-year-old sledded underneath the parked city plow truck.

According to a resident out sledding on S.E. 68th Street — a relatively steep hill that winds its way down into 70th between 84th and 81st Avenues S.E. — a 6-year-old child sledded under a plow truck when it was parked at the bottom of the hill. Islander Richard Mitchell said that he and several other parents and children were out sledding down the hill for much of the day when the plow truck arrived. Parents asked for more time to sled, and the truck left. Mitchell was angered to find out that the truck eventually returned.

The plow driver apparently parked at the bottom of the hill with the back of the truck facing the oncoming sledders. A dispute about whether the hill should be reserved for sledding in such icy, snowy conditions or plowed for cars followed when the 6-year-old slid underneath the truck.

Mitchell said that he confronted the plow driver about the incident. The plow driver, Mitchell said, told him that he was worried the city would be liable if he did not plow the hill, should an auto accident occur. Mitchell said that he suggested protecting the lives of children was more important than protecting cars.

“The resulting collision between the back of his truck and a child was foreseeable,” wrote Mitchell in an e-mail to City Manager Rich Conrad and Mayor Jim Pearman. “Having previously watched the children sledding down the hill, [the plow driver] knew exactly what he was doing and the risk he was creating. The children had no way of anticipating his sudden presence or stopping.”

City officials said that they were aware of the complaint and would look into the incident to determine if there was any wrongdoing by the plow driver. City maintenance director Glenn Boettcher said that he talked with the driver of the truck, the employee riding with him, and Mitchell about the incident. He also said that if disciplinary action is appropriate, it will be taken and treated confidentially, as all discipline is.

The Maintenance Department’s role when it snows is to make the roads as safe as possible for vehicles, starting with the arterials and other main routes, Boettcher said. Early in that process, police take the lead in identifying roads that need the most attention first.

During the initial response to the winter storm, the city has been operating its four snowplows to clear Island streets of the snow, ice and slippery slush left behind. Between Thursday, Dec. 18, and Sunday, Dec. 21, city maintenance put in 550 hours of overtime, driving more than 1,000 miles between four snowplows, which distributed more than 150 yards of sand and burned 600 gallons of diesel.

City Councilmember Mike Grady was out sledding with his family on the same hill earlier that day and said he thinks a resolution has been reached. Grady, who said that he and other neighbors view the street as a “neighborhood sled hill,” suggested to Boettcher that on heavy snow days such as last week, the city should not plow that section until the weather begins to warm up.

“For future ice or snow storms, I suggested cordoning off 68th all the way down to 81st,” Grady said. “Even if you get a plow and put down some sand, it’s still pretty treacherous and only affects about three houses.”

Grady, who lives near the hill, said there are a couple of blind spots from the curves in the road, and that he does not want children and cars mixing on the street.

“We put parents on the top and bottom of the hill to try and get cars to detour,” the Councilmember said. “That makes it safer.”

The editor of the Reporter is not related to Mike Grady.