Crash that injures 12-year-old raises concerns

Boy was hit on County Road 218 in Middleburg near Omega Park

MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – A 12-year-old boy remained in the hospital in critical condition Friday after being hit by a car Thursday afternoon in Middleburg.

Locke Gaddis was trying to cross County Road 218 when he was hit near Omega Park. Family members said Locke was stable Friday but remained in critical condition.

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Neighbors in the area where Locke was hit called the road "very dangerous" because of a mixture of ongoing construction and heavy traffic. The crash involving the 12-year-old has raised questions about why more is not being done to prevent accidents.

"This road is constantly having accidents, people getting hit," neighbor Timothy Higginbothan said.

CR 218 has a busy two-lane stretch along Omega Park, a place where many families and children spend their afternoons.

Higginbothan lives next to the road where Locke was hit Thursday just before 4 p.m.

"Once it gets later in the afternoon around 5 o'clock, it is wall-to-wall traffic and cars," Higginbothan said. "It's just ridiculous."

He said even by car, the road is extremely dangerous.

Witnesses said Locke 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. Locke was airlifted to UF Health Jacksonville.

The driver of the car stopped to call for help and was cooperating with the Florida Highway Patrol investigators.

The Florida Department of Transportation is currently building a 10-foot paved bike lane along the road from Mimosa Avenue to the west of Blanding Boulevard, an almost 2-mile stretch that includes the Omega Park area where Locke was struck.

Right now, there are no sidewalks or marked crosswalks in the area.

Ronald Jones was nearby at the baseball stadium Thursday when the crash happened.

"All I heard was squealing, and I looked over, and I saw the doings and then all the policemen showed up," Jones said.

He said the community wants to band together to prevent anything like this from happening again.

"They said they want to get a petition to try to get this done with the crossings, and that way, hopefully, it will stop them," Jones said.

FDOT expects the almost $800,000 bike lane project to be completed by the end of the year.