PORT ST. LUCIE — Police investigators have been out early this morning at the intersection where a hit-and-run driver struck a 14-year-old boy Monday morning near his bus stop.

The investigators have been asking other students if they saw anything that could locate the driver of the vehicle.

The incident sent the boy to St. Mary’s Medical Center with a fractured pelvis, bruised spleen and punctured lung, though he is expected to make a full recovery, officials said.

About 6:09 a.m. Monday, a northbound vehicle hit John Szafran from behind in the 4000 block of Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard near Southwest Paar Drive.

The vehicle that struck Szafran is thought to have damage to the right quarter panel and/or to the hood or windshield, police stated. Police have not identified any witnesses to the crime and they don’t know what make and model car was involved.

Anyone with information about the crash Monday is asked to call Russell at 871-5000 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS.

Officer Terry Russell said the crash knocked off Szafran’s shoes and that there was no evidence indicating the driver slowed prior to hitting him.

The area where the St. Lucie West Centennial High School student was hit is a short walk from his home in the 700 block of Southwest Paar Drive.

“It is very dark. I actually walked him up there one time,” said Szafran’s brother, Damon Coates. “It is extremely dark at night. There is no lights at all like walking down . . . any of these streets.”

The speed limit on Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard in the area is 40 mph, and Szafran landed an estimated 60 to 70 feet from where he was struck, Russell said. He said Szafran, thought to have been walking on or near the edge of the road, could have been carried on the vehicle’s hood before coming to rest.

“It appears like he’s going to make a full recovery, but he is a hurt young man,” Russell said.

Szafran, who was about 20 to 30 feet from his bus stop, was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach in serious condition. He was stable later in the morning. Arriving rescue crews found him in the grass.

Coates said the family has lived in their current home for two or three months. His stepfather is in the U.S. Navy, so they move frequently. They previously lived in Tennessee and California.

Linda Kinyon, 65, has lived in the area for about seven years and said traffic is “pretty heavy.”

“A lot of people are using this access to go to work,” she said.

The incident Monday wasn’t the first time a child has been struck in the general area while walking to a bus stop.

Alexis N. Blackmore, 11 at the time, was thrown about 25 feet after being hit by a Kia Spectra in September 2007. That incident happened about 6:30 a.m. on Southwest Savona Boulevard as Blackmore walked to her bus stop at Southwest Haleyberry Avenue.

Kelly Fleming, who was driving the Kia, reportedly thought he’d hit a mailbox and drove on to work. He was arrested days later.

In September 2006, an 18-year-old student was struck by a hit-and-run driver about 6:15 a.m. as he walked along Southwest Paar Drive to Savona Boulevard where the bus was supposed to pick him up, he said at the time.

Danny Castillo, then a senior at St. Lucie West Centennial High School, had one foot on the pavement and the other on the grass, according to reports.

Marianela Waicul was driving a 2001 Ford on Southwest Paar Drive and struck what she told police she thought was a mailbox before continuing home. She called 911 after reading about the incident in the next day’s newspaper and eventually was arrested about a month later.

Bryan Garner of WPTV NewsChannel 5 contributed to this report.

By Will Greenlee

Tags: bus stop, centennial high school, crash, dark, hit-and-run, injuries, Paar Drive, rescue, safety, school, witnesses

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 8:32 am and is filed under Crime, Port St. Lucie, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.