Boy, 7, in coma after being hit by truck while running to school bus stop
"He is a strong little man, and we are all waiting anxiously for him to wake up and return to his energetic self."
A 7-year-old Georgia boy is fighting for his life after he was hit by a pick-up truck while running to a school bus stop.
The little boy, identified by a fundraiser as Aiden, has been in a medically induced coma since the tragic accident last week in the city of Rome.
The “rough and tough” boy and his older brother were running to catch a bus when Aiden meandered into the road and was hit by a Ford F-150 around 7 a.m. on Aug. 21, his family and police said.
Adults who witnessed the horror sprang to give the young child CPR before he was rushed to a nearby hospital and ultimately airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Scottish Rite Hospital, his family said.
The boy was diagnosed with a diffuse axonal injury, a severe ligament tear between his skull and neck and a broken pelvis and ribs, as well as a fractured clavicle and wrist.
He was intubated and has been in a medically induced coma ever since.
“He is a strong little man, and we are all waiting anxiously for him to wake up and return to his energetic self,” Aiden’s aunt wrote in a GoFundMe, adding that the young boy “loves paw patrol. Tik tok dancing, being rough and tough and alllll the things.”
Despite claims by Aiden’s family, police told WSB-TV that the pick-up truck driver was not speeding.
The driver remained on the scene, did not show signs of impairment and is not facing charges, officials said.
The child was running to a bus stop at the time of the accident, but was not boarding the bus or at a crossing near a stopped bus, police said, adding that the road was wet from storms earlier that morning.
The crash is a “devastating tragedy for all involved,” a police spokesperson told CBS.
An investigation into the cause of the crash remains ongoing.