By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - Jerry Fales was on his way back from picking up Skyline Chili on Friday night when he noticed several cars stopped ahead of him on Simpson Avenue.

He wasn't sure what happened, but when the retired Colerain Township firefighter got closer he saw a little boy in a skeleton costume lying in the road.

An 8-year-old trick-or-treater was hit at 7:29 p.m. by a van as he ran across Simpson Avenue, near Sundale Avenue, according to North College Hill police.

The boy was unconscious, and had a severe head injury, Fales said. Passersby were already on the phone with emergency services. The boy was rushed to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, where he is in critical condition, according to police.

"I just talked to the boy," said Fales, 46, who retired in 1988. "He was in and out of consciousness and starting to cry a little bit.

"I didn't know his name," Fales added. "But, I tried to calm him down. I told him everything would be OK."

Police say the boy was trick-or-treating with two friends when they ran across Simpson Avenue, a fairly busy road that runs between North Bend Road and Galbraith Road.

Two of the boys stopped when they saw a van driven by a woman come up, but the 8-year-old continued on, said Officer Todd Maus.

"He was a wearing a Halloween mask, which may have limited his peripheral vision," Maus said.

Fales said the mask had just eyeholes and the boy was wearing dark clothing.

Police did not release the van driver's name nor the child's name. No charges have been filed.

Pat Hartzel, a member of North College Hill Citizens on Patrol, said he was walking down Dallas Street when somebody yelled that a boy had been hit.

Jill Blank, another member of citizens on patrol, said it was one of the busiest Halloween nights she's seen in the last few years.

Fales stayed with the boy until he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com