FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A devastated South Florida family is mourning the loss of an 11-year-old boy who, authorities said, was killed in a crash along U.S. 27 near the Broward-Palm Beach County line that also sent six other children and two women to the hospital.
Loved ones on Wednesday described Ron Walker Jr. as a happy child who liked playing video games and being with his cousins.
“He was a good student. He made good grades. He was quiet,” said his father, Ronald Walker Sr. “He loved the video games, basically kept to himself.”
Investigators said the boy was excited to be going to Fort Myers with his cousins, brother and two sisters. All seven children, the deceased victim’s mother, Paula Harper, and her sister were heading north on U.S. 27 when a semi-truck rear-ended their car near mile marker 47.
“I just kept saying to myself, ‘No, that’s my child. He passed away.’ I knew it, like, I felt it in my heart,” said the child’s father.
According to family members, the victims’ family got a flat tire and had pulled over to the side of the highway to wait for AAA with the emergency lights on. All of a sudden, they said, the tractor-trailer smashed into them and crushed the back of their Nissan.
Ronald Walker Sr. said he found out what happened when he was asked to watch the news.
“I got a phone call. They told me to turn on the news; that’s when I seen it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I hope they survived.’ That’s all I was saying, ‘I hope somebody survived.'”
Palm Beach County and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue units responded to the scene. Three helicopters landed on the highway and airlifted the most critical patients to area hospitals.
Ron Walker Jr. later succumbed to his injuries at Broward Health Medical Center. The eight surviving victims remain hospitalized.
“I’m just at a loss for words, at a loss in the moment right now, because it just happened so fast,” said his father. “I’m still trying to grieve and grieve for myself, keep myself calm, from snapping or doing something that I’ll regret.”
Now, this father wants to find out what caused the driver of the truck to slam into a parked car full of children on the side of the road.
“Being a father, I won’t wish this on nobody, but yes, I am angry with the driver because, like, I really can’t say if it was his fault, but he still should have told his side of the story on what happened,” he said. “Nobody didn’t hear from this dude. Nobody knows what’s going on with his company or how this happened.”
The Florida Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash.
7News has learned that Elijah, one of the boys who was injured, has to undergo surgery. His family is uninsured.
Harper has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for her son’s funeral.
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