DECATUR, Ga. — The parents of a 5-year-old boy hit and killed while walking home from the bus stop spoke Thursday for the first time.
Robert Love III, known as "Buddy" to his family, died steps from his family's Decatur apartment on Tuesday.
Forrest Johnson, the lawyer for Love's parents, told Channel 2's Diana Davis he believes the driver of a FedEx truck is responsible for the boy's death.
"It is our opinion that this accident was caused solely by the negligence of the Federal Express driver. In all probability we will be filing a lawsuit," Johnson said.
DeKalb County police questioned that driver and released him. He has not been charged.
Several witnesses said they told police they saw that driver hit the boy.
"He hit the speed bump and as soon as he came through the speed bump he didn't even yield. He completely ran the little boy over," witness Brandon Agaither told Davis.
The family's lawyer told Davis he spoke to another witness. That witness said the same FedEx driver was speeding and nearly hit her vehicle.
She told Johnson she pulled over to get out of the way and let him pass.
"She felt extremely bad because she believes if she had stayed in front of this driver, this incident would not have taken place," Johnson said.
Johnson said DeKalb police have told him there is no physical evidence on the truck to show it hit the boy. He says that is not surprising considering the boy's size.
"The boy probably weighed less than 50 pounds. You can imagine this truck was in excess of 15,000 pounds. From what we gather there was contact," Johnson said.
Police have not released the driver's name.
Davis asked the boy's parents what they would say to him if they could speak to him.
"I just want him to know he took a very important part of our lives. There's nothing to replace it," said Robert Love Jr., the boy's father.
http://bcove.me/es93cd7t