A child struck by a moving vehicle Thursday night at a boat ramp in St. Johns County has died, First Coast News has learned.
The child, 9-year-old Logan Stroud, was hit when a car backing up at the Moultrie Creek Boat pinned him between the open car door and a wooden piling. According to a witness, the impact threw his head against the piling with force.
According to Chuck Mulligan, St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, SJSO Traffic Homicide Investigators responded to the ramp at 9 p.m. regarding a "vehicle versus pedestrian traffic incident."
Mulligan says that a 2012 Toyota Camry was involved in the crash and that the driver of the car apparently did not see the child as it began to reverse.
Rob DiPiazza and his dog Bruno were at the Moultrie Creek Boat and DiPiazza says he struck up a conversation with the family prior to the incident about something they were looking at in the water.
"So we started talking about what it could possibly be and we surmised it was a dolphin," says DiPiazza.
He tells First Coast News that the teenager drove the car down the boat ramp and he had his driver's side door open. That's when he heard a crashing noise.
"And so I walked towards and he broke down crying," DiPiazza says. "I just assumed the car made contact with the dock. Well as it worked out, the younger boy was in his blind spot between the dock and the car."
Investigators conducted their investigation into the early hours this morning, securing the scene shortly before 4 a.m.
The child was treated at the scene by St. Johns Fire Rescue personnel, before being transported to UF Health in Jacksonville, where he later died.
Stay with First Coast News as this story develops.