Car Hit Crawling Baby; Child Dies

Troopers Say 13-Month-Old Was Hit Crawling In Private Drive

POSTED: Thursday, April 1, 2010
UPDATED: 5:07 pm EDT April 1,2010

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. -- Putnam County deputies and the Florida Highway Patrol are on the hunt for a driver who ran over a baby, then took off. The baby has since died from his injuries.

The FHP said 13-month-old Caleb Cronk was crawling across a private drive at the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park in Palatka about 6 p.m. Wednesday when he was hit by a car.

Amy Sowell, Caleb's mother, said Caleb was playing with other children ages 3 and 4 outside. She said she went inside to go to the bathroom and her neighbor ran over and told her about the accident.

"He was just crawling, and I just went to the bathroom," Sowell said. "The lady's knocking on the door, 'Somebody ran over your baby.' Just that quick. 'Cause I'm thinking, you know, if I seen this, I'd be like, 'Where was mom?' I just went to the bathroom. Just that quick and he was gone."

The child, who lived in the mobile home park, was critically injured and flown to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, where he later died overnight.

Troopers were not able to provide a description of the vehicle they were seeking, but asked anyone with information that could help locate the car or driver to call the FHP's Palatka office at 904-529-2350. A speed limit sign on the street reads 10 mph. It's unclear how fast the vehicle was driving.

The boy's mother and neighbors said police are looking for a red pickup truck.

A Department of Children and Families spokesman said DCF is investigating to see if there was proper supervision by the parents.

From: http://www.news4jax.com/news/23022244/detail.html#