JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A local mother said her family is still hurting four months after her 16-year-old son was killed in a car accident.
Police said Melvin Woodard (pictured) and three others were in a a stolen vehicle that crossed multiple lanes of traffic then struck a wooden light pole.
Woodard's mother, Annette Hurst, is still demanding answers four months later. She has said since the wreck that the driver of the car should be charged.
Hurst said she's been working with officials for the last few months and is not getting any closer to justice. She has even hired her own detectives to look into the case.
"I feel a lot of pain," Hurst said. "I'm in a lot of hurt, and I'm still in disbelief that my son is gone."
Hurst said she passes a memorial for her son every day.
"This is somewhere that I'm going to have to see my son and visit and I shouldn't have to," Hurst said. "Because of a senseless act of a young teen that jumped out of a car and decided to take the lives of three teens, but the one that died was my son."
Woodard was a passenger in a car riding along Moncrief Road in the early hours of the morning four months ago. Police said the car failed to negotiate a curve, crossed multiple lanes of traffic and hit a light pole.
According to the surviving passengers, the driver of the car was speeding, then jumped out of the car while it was in motion. Police told News4Jax on Friday that the case is still open and under investigation. Hurst wants the driver charged.
"I want justice for my son, and it's nothing that's been done about it," Hurst said. "The parents of the driver need to bring him forth and let him own up to what he has done. The young man, he's still out enjoying life. I have to visit my son at a cemetery and come up to his memorial and this is the pain that me and my family and his friends are going through."
As Hurst continues to fight for justice for her football-loving, fun-spirited son, she said her memories of him will continue to give her strength to fight.
"I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get justice for my baby," Hurst said. "Every breath in my body, til the day that I die. I want justice for my son."