13-year-old Boy Dies Hit By Driver Who Runs Away

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A family in Florida has suffered a double tragedy. On Saturday morning, Tyler Pittard, 13, died after being struck by a van and the driver fled. The boy was walking with other people on a busy road. The teenager was accompanied by Donald Charles Keefer, 47, a family friend, and his aunt. They were returning from a fishing trip and were walking to a nearby gas station, local media WFTS, WFLA and Bay9News reported.

"He was with adults, he felt safe," Bruce Branch, the boy's great-uncle, told WFTS. However, the driver of a Chevy Silverado van hit the group that was walking, killing Tyler and Keefer. The boy's aunt survived and is hospitalized with serious injuries, according to reports. The driver fled, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

On Sunday a driver called the authorities saying that he suspected that he had been the person involved in the crash, however he assured that he thought he had run over a deer. His vehicle has a description compatible with that of the Chevy Silverado van and is now in the possession of the authorities investigating the case. The driver has not yet been arrested.

Another alarming fact is that Tyler died on the same stretch of US Highway 19 where months ago his mother, Mindy O'Neill, lost her life after being rammed by another car while riding a bicycle. According to a GoFundMe account that was created to help the family with the teenager's funeral expenses, Tyler lived with her grandmother Tammy after losing her mother. May they rest in peace.