Boy with 2 broken legs recovering; hit-and-run driver sought

Jack Ford, 6, was injured by an alleged hit-and-run driver in Cobb County.

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Jack Ford, 6, was injured by an alleged hit-and-run driver in Cobb County.

A 6-year-old boy who has two broken legs after a weekend hit-and-run near Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is out of surgery and recovering, his father said Wednesday.

“All went well with his surgery and he is now on the road to recovery,” Jason Ford said in a Facebook post. “Thank everyone for your prayers, thoughts, and positive energy.”

Authorities are seeking the driver who hit Jack Ford in a crosswalk near the park Sunday evening, then ran from the scene, Cobb County police said.

“I want the guy off the street because I don’t want him to hurt anyone else,” Jason Ford told Channel 2 Action News.

The boy was crossing Burnt Hickory Road at Old Mountain Road with family when he was hit, police spokesman Wayne Delk said.

“A blue 2008 Chevrolet Impala, traveling west on Burnt Hickory Road, improperly passed the stopped traffic and drove on the wrong side of the roadway and struck the victim in the crosswalk,” Delk said.

The car then went into a parking lot, where it crashed into an unoccupied vehicle.

“I was just so thankful when he opened his eyes and I knew he was alive,” said Sherry Jones, who witnessed the incident.

The driver was gone when police arrived, though the three passengers remained on the scene, according to Delk.

The driver, who has not been identified, is described as 18 to 27 years old, with short dreadlocks, police said. The passengers said the driver is known to them as “Moonie.”

One of the passengers, identified as 20-year-old Brian Locklin, was arrested on a probation violation warrant out of Fayette County, according to Channel 2.

Jason Ford told the news station that a medical student who was nearby ran to help at the scene. Ford said first responders were there within minutes.

He said he expects his son to be able to go home Thursday.

The boy recently lost his mother to cancer, Channel 2 reported.

“God, and his mother, definitely had a protective bubble around him,” Jason Ford posted on Facebook.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to contact Cobb police at 770-499-3987.

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