POINCIANA, Fla. — Eleven-year-old Zion McMillan left his home Monday morning to head to his bus stop before going to school.
During his walk, Zion was struck by an SUV in a hit-and-run in Poinciana.
"Something told me to tell him not to go because I had just received a call from the school saying that the bus was running late," Zion's dad, Jarvis Alston, said.
The crash happened around 8 a.m. at the intersection of Cedar Side Drive and Rio Grande Canyon Loop, authorities say. After the 11-year-old was hit, deputies said the driver, later identified as Pierre Jacinthe, drove off and didn't stay at the crash site.
Zion's leg was broken and he was rushed to the hospital to receive treatment for his injuries but is expected to make a full recovery.
"Zion was airlifted to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children," Jarvis said. "He has injuries to his face and stomach. The car struck him and didn't stop. It kept going leaving my son, I feel like, to die."
Jacinthe reportedly told deputies that he hit the child by accident, panicked and drove away. He then hid in his car in the garage at his home where authorities later located him.
The 61-year-old was arrested and is charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injuries and tampering with evidence.
"I forgive him, but I want to know why didn't you stop?" Jarvis pleaded. "It could have been an accident, but it makes me look at it a totally different way when you fail to stop and then render no care. He didn't even care if my kid was dead or alive. That's what angers me the most, that he showed no care."
Jarvis said a lot of drivers speed through the area where Zion was hit and is calling on his neighbors to look out for one another.
"We just need to figure out a way to come together and protect our kids in a better fashion because it's my kid today, but it can be somebody else's kid in the morning," he said. "That's the scary part, knowing that this can happen to someone else's kid if we don't do something about this really fast."
The Polk County Sheriff's Office says the investigation of the crash remains ongoing.