MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 16-year-old boy who survived a hit-and-run is sharing his story from the hospital as his mother pleads for help finding the driver who did it.
Wearing his hospital gown, with his face swollen and battered and IVs in his arms and hands, Jamarion Boyland is opening up about a day that could have ended much differently.
“I’ve got a couple sores on my hand and one on my leg by my knee,” he said. “I feel grateful and I feel blessed.”
Police say a driver hit Jamarion around 1 p.m. Saturday on Park Avenue, about a block East of South Highland Street, then sped off.
“You didn’t even stop to check and see if he was breathing and say ‘I’m sorry,'” Jamarion’s mom, Leandrea Boyland, said. “You didn’t have no remorse, nothing. You just kept going like a maniac.”
Jamarion doesn’t remember much, but says he had just grabbed food at American Deli and was crossing the street to go back to work at the Tailored barbershop when he was hit.
“I didn’t see any cars coming,” he said. “I think I made it onto the sidewalk, but I can’t be sure because once I made it onto the sidewalk, everything went black.”
A witness told police she saw a white van with black lettering on the side and a white tag speeding down Park. It hit Jamarion, then cut through the parking lot of the Walgreens at the corner of Park and Highland to get away.
The witness says the van hit Jamarion so hard, he shattered the windshield and flew into the air, landing in the other lane of traffic.
“They could’ve killed my baby,” Boyland said. “If that was you yourself, would you want somebody to leave you laying in the middle of the road?”
Despite being pretty beat up, Jamarion is OK, but says he’s sad and angry the driver didn’t even bother to stop.
“I try to be a nice person as often as I can, and I wouldn’t just – if I was that person that hit the other one – I wouldn’t just keep going. I would actually stop to go back and check on them,” he said.
Jamarion is expected to be released from the hospital by the end of the day Sunday.
If you saw anything that could help police catch the driver who hit him, call Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH.
