HOUSTON – A Southeast Houston community is heartbroken after a 7-year-old boy was hit and killed while riding his bike on Thanksgiving Day. Neighbors who witnessed the crash say they are still shaken by the tragedy that unfolded right outside their homes on Willow Glen Drive.
16-year-old August Moore was sitting outside when she heard something she’ll never forget.
“It was really sad to see the kid on the ground. I was crying a little bit,” Moore told KPRC 2’s Re’Chelle Turner.
Moore said she first heard the bike scraping under a truck before she realized a child had been hit.
“I was just sitting outside and then I heard the bike scraping under the car. He had stopped to see what was under the car and I don’t think he realized he hit the kid,” she said.
Moore ran to get her mother, Ebony Brooks, who immediately called 911. Brooks said the driver was panicked and pleading for help.
“He was frantic, and he was like, I didn’t see him, I didn’t see him, I hit a kid, please, somebody help him, please, somebody help him, someone call 911, he say, cause I didn’t see him, I didn’t see him, he say, I hit a kid, and he was just crying,” Brooks said.
Houston police say the driver told investigators he didn’t realize he had struck the child. He believed something had fallen off his truck. When he got out to look, he saw the bike lodged underneath the vehicle and then found the boy lying in the street.
Skid marks are still visible along Willow Glen Drive—markings neighbors say represent the final seconds of a devastating crash that has shaken the entire block.
As neighbors mourn, some have left small gestures near the scene, including a branch tied to a stop sign. One woman told KPRC2 her heart breaks for the child’s family.
Longtime resident Bobby Taplan said the impact of losing a child on Thanksgiving has left the community grief-stricken.
“For you to lose a child like that there, on Thanksgiving Day, it’s just hurting me to tell my heart. My family was from visiting out of town and everything, and she was hurt too. We all hurt. We still hurt behind that. For a kid to lose his life on Thanksgiving Day,” Taplan said.
Brooks said the hardest moment was watching first responders cover the child.
“He was so young… we’re like, you know, who’s with him? Where’s his family? Because it was just him and the truck in the street… and when they pulled that sheet out, oh, that was the hardest part, because you’re like, this is somebody’s baby,” she said.
KPRC2 visited the child’s home on Friday, but no one was there.
Houston police say the investigation is ongoing. The driver was not intoxicated, and investigators are still working to determine whether speed played a role. So far, no charges have been filed.
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