August 12th, 2006
Autistic boy dies in hit-and-run
Child had wandered onto road early Saturday; driver sought
From Staff and Wire Reports
Authorities were searching for the driver of a car that struck and killed a 4-year-old autistic boy early Saturday in Richland County.
The accident happened at 4 a.m. on Hard Scrabble Road, about 10 miles north of Columbia, said South Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Bryan McDougald.
The boy, Xavier Tobias Moore, apparently wandered from his house on Summer Vale Court and walked onto the road, where he was struck by an unknown vehicle, McDougald said.
He said the child, wearing only a diaper, walked nearly half a mile before he was hit.
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said the boy was taken to Palmetto Health Richland but died from multiple trauma and skull fracture.
The victim’s great-aunt told WIS-TV that the child was autistic and sometimes suffered seizures.
Authorities collected evidence at the scene but McDougald did not release a possible description of the vehicle.
“We’re asking anyone in the area to please call in with any information. We have found in past cases where people have struck pedestrians and not known it. The driver possibly may not have known,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the patrol at (803) 896-9621.
The Associated Press and staff writer Caroline Smith contributed to this report.