HASTINGS, Fla. — The family of 13-year-old, Xavier Santana, has confirmed he was the teen killed Sunday when a truck hit his bicycle.
The crash happened around 7 p.m. on County Road 13 near Cowpen Branch Road in Hastings.
The Florida Highway Patrol says a man was driving east past the intersection when the front of his pickup truck crashed into the back of Santana's bicycle.
"Couldn't believe there would be kids out on the road at this time of night," Wesley Smith, said.
Smith lives near where the accident took place and says he spoke to the driver after the crash. The driver says he was trying to avoid Santana's friend who was also riding a bicycle.
"He said that he saw the boy on the grass and he veered over away from him and there was the guy on the bicycle hit him right in the center line of the road is what he said it just happened so fast," Smith said.
Denis Romanov was one of the first people on scene. He and Smith believe the crash was a tragic accident given the low visibility and limited shoulder along the road.
"There was no room just to go around or anything," Romanov said.
"Why a parent would let them ride this road in the middle of the night like this is beyond me," Smith said.
Santana's father, Effrain, said he believes the driver was speeding. The FHP has not charged the driver at this time.
Santana said his son was a good kid who looked out for others in the neighborhood. He added his son babysat and cut lawns in the neighborhood.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page and is asking for donations for funeral costs.