Tulsa mother calls for more safety on roads after her son’s fatal accident

A Tulsa mother is remembering her 17-year-old son, who was struck by a driver on Mingo Road north of 81st Street and died of his injuries nearly a week later. Now his mother wants to warn others about the area and is calling for safety improvements such as sidewalks or traffic lights.

Iley Orgill says her son Isaiah was an important piece of her family’s puzzle and now she feels empty without him. Isaiah Orgill was autistic and non-verbal. Even though he couldn’t speak, he had many friends, says one of his teachers at Union High School. “He’s very sweet, he was always in the hallways saying hello to everyone,” said Ranesha Smith, a teacher’s aide at Union High School.

Isaiah’s mother, Iley Orgill, says he went for walks in the evenings during the summer when it wasn’t so hot. His mother followed him, and when he left the house and went for a walk on the evening of June 14, she thought nothing of it until his route seemed unusual.

“I had seen him on Mingo and he came back to the house and then he got back on Mingo. Then it got later and later; it was like maybe he was standing in the spot or something, I went to get him,” said Iley Orgill.

Iley says she tried to pick Isaiah up from his walk, but he didn’t go in. She left to switch cars, and when she got home, she got a call. “It was the Tulsa Police Department asking me to come to St. Francis because Isaiah had been hit,” Orgill says.

Isaiah suffered a brain hemorrhage and required surgery, but before he could be operated on, he died nearly a week after the accident. Iley says she can’t help but wonder if this could have been prevented. “I think if there had been streetlights or sidewalks in that part of Mingo, that person would have seen my son before it was too late,” Orgill said.

She hopes the city of Tulsa makes those safety improvements. In the meantime, she’s still grieving for her son and says the hardest part is thinking about what could have been his future. “It’s hard as a mother to pick out spots in a cemetery for your child when he wasn’t previously sick or anything like that,” Orgill said.

Iley says the driver who hit her son stayed and called 911. No charges have been filed. Iley hopes the city can at least put safety measures in place to keep people safe until sidewalks or street lights are installed.

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