ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Flashing red and blue lights lit up the darkness on Reams Road, near Legado Dr, on Wednesday night. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 6-year-old boy with autism got out of his house and wandered into the road.
FHP said a woman driving a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe hit him. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
“The kid is not good,” said Hewerton Alves.
Alves is a neighbor and family friend. He talked to us while he was on the phone with the mother, who was at the hospital at the time. He said the boy is bleeding in the brain and has several broken bones.
“The problem is outside the body,” he said. “He has too much trauma.”
Alves said the mother and her three kids had just gotten home minutes before the crash.
“She put the kids inside the home. She looked [to make sure] everything [was] okay,” he said.
She went back to the car to get something else, “then boom kid’s not there,” he said.
Hewerton said he also went out to the scene after the crash. He talked to the driver, along with others. He said she was shaken up.
“The lady... she put her hands on her head. She said sorry, sorry, I didn’t [see] him,” Alves said. “Everyone said it’s ok. It’s not your fault. It was an accident.
The driver of the vehicle, a 21-year-old female, remained on the scene following the incident, FHP said.
FHP said the crash remains under investigation.
Alves said this is all really hard on the 6-year-old single mother.
“She’s [traumatized], bro,” said Alves.
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