TAMPA, Fla. — Jennifer Moore said her son Joseph was left in the middle of the street after being hit and dragged by a truck.
"Looking and seeing my baby in the middle of the road, surrounded by people that were trying to help him. I thought my worst fear. That my baby was gone," Moore said.
The 4-year-old had just gotten off the bus at the wrong stop in Holiday and was trying to make his way home.
"He almost made it. He was about a block away and got ran down. He has a broken femur and road rash on the whole side of his head. He's in pain. He's in a lot of pain," Moore said.
Now, her spunky and electric kindergartener is recovering at Tampa General Hospital and will have to learn how to walk again. The road to recovery won't be easy.
"He woke up screaming his first night. 'Mommy save me! Mommy, the truck is coming!' For that to happen and him to wake up like that, it's gut-wrenching. It breaks your heart because you don't want your baby to remember stuff like that," Moore said.
Moore said the driver who hit him isn't the only one at fault. She just wants whoever put her son in a hospital bed to come forward.
"I partially blame the bus driver for letting him get off at the wrong stop, but the coward that hit my baby is to blame for what's going on right now. For hitting him and leaving," Moore said.
Troopers are still searching for the truck that hit Joseph. It's a blue Chevy S10. He was hit at Flora Avenue and Excalibur Street.
Anyone with information on the driver is asked to call FHP at 813-558-1800 or Crime Stoppers at 800-873-TIPS.
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