If you happened to be in the area of Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo last night, you may have noticed a large crowd gathered. This caused some confusion amongst local residents but, here's why they were there.

According to WWMT News Channel 3, a small crowd gathered outside the hospital to hold a vigil for two boys who had been brought in after a snowmobiling accident. Eventually, the crowd grew to about 50 people causing police to block off part of the road by the emergency room for safety reasons, or so I'm assuming. No reasons were given in the original story.

The uncle of the boys, who was interviewed by WWMT, said that earlier that day the boys had been involved in a crash while riding a snowmobile. While one boy was doing well after surgery to fix three breaks in his leg, the other boy remains unconscious. At least as of last night.

The crowd that gathered held prayers and dispersed by around 7pm.

What remains unclear are the details surrounding the accident and why, so suddenly, a crowd that large gathered at the hospital. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with showing support, but considering that this is the first I've heard of the accident a gathering that large was just surprising.

Several people on WWMT's Facebook page critiqued the fact that people were blocking the street with comments like:

Lori W who commented in part: Why does this warrant blocking the street where ambulances & distraught family members need to drive? They can gather on private property.

However, a response from Danielle L, who implied that she was part of the crowd that gathered, wrote: we were actually cleared to do this, and told that the second we heard sirens (if in fact, there were any) we needed to move to the sidewalk. Everyone would have rushed out of the way, and anyway, an ambulance wouldn’t have fallen from the sky. We would have had time to move. Let this be just what it was; a community gathering in support of two injured children and their parents.

Unfortunately, the comment section on just about anything online is enough to discourage even the most positively perky person and this one is no different. Through the noise of people arguing from behind their keyboards, the fact that two children were recovering from an accident seemed to be lost on most.

The boys remain hospitalized. We wish them, and their families, the best and hope for a speedy recovery.

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