Blake Terrell enjoying Cruisin' the Coast Tuesday evening with his family.BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -
A tragedy Tuesday night has devastated a young family and given nightmares to those who witnessed it. An 8-year-old boy died after being hit by a car on Highway 90 Tuesday night in Biloxi while enjoying Cruisin' the Coast.
"It was just an awful crash. I had nightmares about it, you know. Just the sound of that truck hitting him," Larry Young remembered.
What was supposed to be a night of family fun suddenly turned tragic. Larry Young was sitting with his family along Highway 90, just east of Rodenburg Avenue, when he witnessed Blake Terrell dart out in front of on coming traffic.
"There was a group of a family started crossing the street. And we saw the car stop for them," said Young. "And they started backing. I think the mother and the boyfriend saw the truck coming. She was able to grab the first son. The other son was behind her. He came around and bolted from behind her and stepped across the lane into the oncoming path of the truck and the truck never saw them."
Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said 18-year-old Tony Barnett was the driver of the truck that hit the boy.
"If we determine it was wrong doing, we will take the proper steps. But right now no one has been cited," Chief John Miller said. "It doesn't appear to us that alcohol or drugs were related in any kind of way. It's just a real tragedy."
Young added, "I have thought about it a lot and I don't know what, other than not crossing in the middle of the highway, I don't know what you could have done different. It was heartbreaking. For the mother and the little brother to see that thing happen right there in front of them, it really was heartbreaking."
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