A 13-year-old Columbus boy was rushed to the hospital with a possible broken leg Saturday after being struck by a pickup truck.
Witnesses say the boy, identified by an acquaintance as Marlentrey, a seventh-grader at Columbus Middle School, was riding his bike down the hill where 12th Avenue North meets Military Road around 1:15 p.m. when he rolled into the roadway and was struck by a truck driven by Michael Scott of Columbus.
Tyler Simon, 13, an acquaintance and schoolmate of Marlentrey”s, said the boy”s bike had no brakes and Marlentrey was attempting to slow himself with his feet at the bottom of the hill when his front tire hit an uneven surface and redirected him into the street.
Scott said he didn”t see the boy until after he the impact.
“All of the sudden there was this blue blur out of nowhere and POW!, I hit him,” said Scott. “I thought I hit a car.”
Nurse Sheila Parr was across the street in Styles N Motion salon when she heard the impact. She walked outside to see several adults moving the boy from the middle of the road to the side.
“I told them don”t move him, but they pulled him out of the street. His left leg looked broken and he was bleeding from the mouth,” said Parr, who waited with the boy until an ambulance arrived. “He was semi-conscious at first but then he came around. I kept him as still as I could.”
Not far down the street, Scott”s green Ford F-150 sat on the side of the road with its lower left bumper dangling.
In addition to his leg injury, the boy had multiple cuts and road burn wounds.
Hospital officials at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle wouldn”t give specifics on the boy”s injuries except to say he was “doing fine.”
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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