Driver Hits Boy Getting Ice Cream in Smyrna, Leaves Scene

Police are searching for the driver who hit an 8-year-old boy in a Smyrna neighborhood Sunday evening and did not stop.

According to Joe Eagles, his son Jonah and the boy’s brother were getting ice cream at an ice cream truck along Hermitage Drive around 6:40 p.m. Sunday when Jonah was hit.

“[Jonah] had walked to the front of the ice cream truck and was standing around the middle of the headlights waiting,” Eagles described to News 2. “The truck came around the ice cream truck, and when it got to where it could, it swerved back in front of the ice cream truck, hitting my son, knocking him to the grass, and then they sped off.”

Eagles said his son was taken to a hospital and had suffered cuts, bruises, and a bloody nose. Jonah is now using crutches to get around, and could have a torn ACL.The driver of the ice cream truck reportedly tried to chase the hit-and-run vehicle but lost track of it.

Sgt. Bobby Gibson with the Smyrna Police Department said witness statements indicate the vehicle involved is a small, black pick-up. It could have damage to its passenger side.

“We’re hoping that maybe somebody during that time frame saw this truck traveling possibly at a high rate of speed,” Sgt. Gibson said. “They may know somebody that lives in that general area that drives a vehicle like that. If they can come forward, and give us some information about who may have been driving that vehicle.”

In an attempt to track down the driver, Eagles and his wife Brandee have also written several social media posts about the incident. Those posts have been shared hundreds of times.

Anyone with information on the investigation is asked to contact the Smyrna Police Department at 615-459-6644.

Courtesy of WKRN News 2