Driver flees after running over teen on ATV

Cat Andersen

Arcadia - Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputies are looking for the hit-and-run driver who slammed into a 17-year-old boy, who was riding a 4-wheel all-terrain-vehicle.

Deputies say it happened around 12:45 a.m. Saturday in Arcadia near the corner of 256th Street and Devaney Road.

Eyewitness News spoke with the victim's family at Methodist Hospital, where he was taken in critical condition.

"As of now he doesn't have any feeling from the chest down," said Hall.

Sheriff's deputies say there were no street lights in the area.

Logan Puski was driving his ATV down 256th street, while his friend followed him in a pick up-truck about 200 yards away. They say his friend saw the whole thing happen.

"He said that an older model brown Dodge van passed him and basically got between him and his friend Logan, and all of a sudden ahead of him, he saw a puff of smoke," said Vicky Dunbar of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department.

The impact tore Puski's organs and broke his spine.

"I don't understand how you can push someone off the roadway and then back up and leave when they're laying over the handlebars," said Logan's friend Dakota Frye.

"It's just like a stick breaking in half they had to put back all the pieces together inside," said Hall.

Logan's mom says they're trying to focus on the positive that he is breathing on his own now, but he still has five different surgeries ahead of him.

"You've got five different surgeons talking to you about every part of the body and they kept talking about which surgery to do first because if they did them in the wrong order he might not make it," explained Hall.

Logan's friends say he was seconds away from pulling his ATV off the road.

"That is a main source of transportation around here. Everybody just rides them to a friends house or they ride up and down the road," said Nicholas Eller.

Police describe the van as a brown, older model Dodge. It should have damage to the front bumper. Investigators say the van may not have been able to go very far. Anyone with information should call the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department.

As of Sunday at 5 p.m., Logan was reported to be in serious condition.

Source: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=9401386

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites