OCOEE, Fla. – A 13-year-old boy was hit by a car in Ocoee on Monday, his mother is calling on the driver who hit her son to come forward.
She is also calling on the City of Ocoee to make changes to the intersection where her son was hit.
Ashley Wynn said her son Rontavius “Tay” Newman,13, and her younger son and a friend were riding their bikes after school Monday afternoon when a neighbor’s surveillance video showed the teenager getting hit by a car while trying to cross the street at Wurst Road and Adair Street.
[RELATED: ‘Call the cops:’ Video shows driver smash into child on bicycle in Ocoee hit-and-run]
“You see the video footage and my son flipped off the bike and his bike went another way,” Wynn said. “What’s even worse, I was waiting for the car to stop, and the car never stopped. The car just kept going.”
Her son’s bike now has crooked handlebars, her son only suffered scrapes on his elbows and legs and some soreness that sent him to the hospital Monday night, but he was back at school Wednesday.
“I was just shocked, but I was thankful at the same time, because if that car hit him dead on, my son would have flipped in their air and who knows if he would be here or not. I would probably have one (child) today,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Now, this mother’s goal is twofold.
First, find the driver of what police describe as a mid-2000s blue Toyota Corolla.
“I don’t understand what type of human being can hit a kid and just take off,” Wynn said.
Second, she is demanding changes at that intersection, where there is only one side of the street with a sidewalk, forcing her son to cross the busy Wurst Road.
“I would like to see a three-way stop sign. I would like to see a pedestrian crosswalk with a signal and all of that because this is a very busy street,” she said.
Neighbors are also demanding change.
“I think we need to have stop signs on Wurst Road,” Buddy Welch said, his camera caught the hit-and-run.
“Speed tables, stop signs, anything it takes to slow them down,” added Carl Temples, whose late wife filed a petition years ago to add speed tables to the neighborhood. “There are so many (children) riding around here with their bicycles, it ain’t funny so yeah, they need to do something.”
The demands led to a call from Steve Krug, Ocoee’s Director of Public Works. He told News 6, he will personally reach out to the boy’s mom and go out to the intersection to see what solutions can be done to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Krug told News 6 the district commissioner has already brought attention to the speeding on Wurst Road which is why there is already a speed radar.
However, News 6 saw many cars clocking over the posted 25 mph speed limit, including the City of Ocoee trucks, one clocked at 40 mph.
In response, Krug said he will send out a city-wide email reminding employees to follow the posted speed limit.
His department is also already working with the Ocoee police to investigate not only the hit and run but possible changes to the intersection.
“As to the engineering process of traffic enforcement, we will work with our Public Works Department to assess any potential considerations,” wrote Saima Plasencia, Chief of Police at Ocoee Police Department. “As a collector road, speed bumps would not be considered.”