15 year old Cody Flowers of Warren County was struck by a hit and run driver this past weekend, and placed in a medically induced coma at Duke University Hospital.
Cody has passed away yesterday after a battle with his injuries.
At the news of his death, a road side vigil was established by family and friends at the spot Cody was hit.
Since the driver fled the scene, anyone with any information regarding the incident should immediately call the State Highway Patrol at (919) 733-7952.
Pictures above courtesy of Ellen Paynter.
I honestly can say this has broken my heart! This kid was just a regular 15 yr old. He got into trouble like most kids do, got into fights with his mom and others like most kids do, he was just a kid though…he was not given the chance to grow up! His mother will never get to see her first born and only son grow into a man! They will never experience the special friendship that a mother and son have! Saturday night changed this family’s life forever!
Two of my boys were sitting on the front porch Saturday night smoking a cigarette and they heard a loud bang. My other two boys were in the house and heard it as well (one at the back of the house). My nephew and his girlfriend were in bed at their house and heard it! They all say it sounded like a gun shot or a popped tire that’s how loud it was. So my nephew and my two boys on the porch walked up to the road to see what happened. That’s were they found Cody laying in our driveway! They had already seen the cars going by speed up and drive off without once stepping on their brakes (and yes they know for a fact that no brakes where stepped on or even tapped cause in the dark of the night out here you can see brake lights clear as day). My four boys and my nephew stayed with Cody until help arrived. He wasn’t able to talk but he keep trying to move…lifting his right arm which was the one that was broken. This is something that they will never be able to forget!
I was able to meet his mother yesterday when she came and spent most of the afternoon sitting in our driveway next to her son’s blood left there from that horrible Saturday night! (yes we have tried to cover the blood up many times but it keeps coming back…needless to say it wont anymore cause his mom took that piece of driveway home with her…she is trying to cling to any piece of her son she can find) This woman’s whole world is crushed! She showed me the pictures on her phone of her son in the hospital…it didn’t even look like the same child! I don’t think for the rest of my life will I ever forget those images! Then last night I was able to meet his little sister for the first time…that poor sweet little girl sat in my lap (a complete stranger) crying because she didn’t understand why her brother will not be coming home from heaven just like he came home from sleeping over at his friend’s home. Then after everyone left last night…a few people offering to give his mom a ride home…she walked home alone carrying what items she hasn’t let go of since this all happened…just so she could finish the walk that he wasn’t able to finish that fateful Saturday night! She wasn’t totally alone as a few of his friends walked a few paces behind her without her knowledge!
The reason I share all of this with you…the person who did this HAD to have known he hit something as big of a hit as it was…they know it was a young life they took now…and yet they STILL HAVEN’T CAME FORWARD!!! If the person who did this was reading this right now I would tell them to turn themselves in…give this family some type of comfort that knowing the person who did this can give them! If you know who did this (don’t just sit around and talk about it like the workers at BK on Raleigh Rd yesterday morning were doing when I went in there) CALL the tip in to the state police!!! This family has been through enough pain…please let’s help them start down the long road of recovery by putting a name to the crime!