Car hits boy at Valrico school bus stop

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigators work the scene of an early morning accident in which a 10-year-old boy was hit by this Dodge Pt Cruiser after running into the street to chase a ball. [SKIP O'ROURKE | Times]

VALRICO -- A 10-year-old boy was hit by a vehicle at his school bus stop this morning when he chased a ball into the street, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office officials say.

Christian Gonzalez, a Valrico Elementary School fourth-grader, was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, where he is in serious condition, Sheriff's Office and school district officials said. He was conscious and breathing when rescuers arrived at the bus stop in front of Town and Country Mobile Home Park, 1221 Valrico Road, around 7:45 a.m. A traffic homicide investigator at the scene described the boy's injuries as life-threatening.

Christian was hit by a 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser traveling north on Valrico Road. The driver, 65-year-old Carlos Garcia of 333 Brandy Wine Drive, likely will not face criminal charges, Sheriff's Office spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

"Right now it appears to be an accident," Callaway said, but the incident is still under investigation.

Garcia reportedly stopped immediately when he hit Christian.

The bus stop is on Valrico Road between State Road 60 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It's a busy two-lane thoroughfare lined with trees and, at the bus stop, a drainage ditch. Cars zoom by at 45 mph or more.

"They fly down here," said Pam Deems, manager of the mobile home park. "It's not good for (the kids) to have to stand out there."

The stop was moved from inside the park out to the edge of Valrico Road, according to Deems and another area resident.

"That was a bad decision," said Robin DeHate, who lives in a subdivision across the road.

Deems and DeHate said the stop was moved last year, but Hillsborough County School District Spokeswoman Linde Cobbe said it was moved in 2003.

Valrico Road was closed for about an hour after the incident.

Kim Wilmath and Jan Wesner, Times staff writers