ST. LOUIS (KMOV/Gray News) – A Missouri teenager’s life has been cut short after he was hit by a driver earlier this year.
The Thompson family said their 16-year-old son King Thompson loved people and was just making plans for his future.
He had big dreams of going to college and playing professional football, but now his family is planning for his funeral.
“Bad things happen every day in St. Louis and you never think it’s going to hit your front door,” Thompson’s stepmom LaRhonda Townsend said.
According to St. Louis Police, the crash happened on Jan. 8 when the 16-year-old was hit by a sedan on Martin Luther King Drive.
Thompson was left on the road as the driver took off from the scene.
He was taken to the hospital and later released on Jan. 11. However, Thompson died 24 hours later and was found dead at the family home.
Investigators believe he died because of injuries sustained in the crash.
“They just left him there. I just hope they get caught and turn themselves in. Have a conscious,” the boy’s father, Dion Thompson, said.
Dion Thompson said he is continuing to mourn the death of his firstborn child.
“I said to him before he left. He asked me, ‘Daddy, am I gonna heal?’ I told my baby, ‘Yeah,’ and he passed the next day,” he said.
Investigators are still looking for the driver and awaiting autopsy results from the medical examiner’s office.
“You know you hit something. You know what street you were on when you did it,” Townsend said. You see the news. “You see that it was a baby boy that had a family that loved him.”
The family has since started a GoFundMe to help lay the teen to rest.
“We never thought we would have to bury him,” Townsend said. “It’s going to be hard not being able to create any more memories”
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