MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating after a 12-year-old boy was struck by a car just before 4 p.m. Thursday on County Road 218 near Iris Street.
Witnesses said the boy was leaving a driveway near the Omega Park area at the time of the accident and was hit by a 55-year-old woman driving a red Ford Mustang.
The driver of the car that struck the boy did stop and was cooperating with the FHP.
"She immediately stopped and attempted to render aid and contact medical assistance to respond to the scene for the child but of course, obviously, this is very emotional and she has been cooperating with us," FHP Sgt. Dylan Bryan said.
The boy was airlifted to UF Health in Jacksonville and once he recovers investigators will work further to find out what happened.
"I do know that there was contact with the front of that vehicle as well as the side as the pedestrian came off the vehicle after being struck, so our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time," Bryan said.
Bryan said the area is filled with construction, has no sidewalks and no marked crosswalks so officials are asking parents to speak to their kids about walking into the street.
"The biggest message is to talk to your kids, be a parent. Educate them and don't expected that to be done entirely by the school system. We want people to pass on that comment straight to their children. Look both ways and double-check. Whatever the case may be, the same stuff you heard when you were growing up should be the same information that you're passing on to your children," Bryan said.