A 12-year-old boy riding an electric scooter through a marked crosswalk in Garland was struck by a white utility-style work truck Saturday morning, and the driver took off without exchanging information, according to police. The boy was crossing at North Garland Avenue and Apollo Road at about 8:30 a.m. when the crash happened. He is currently in stable condition, police said.
According to FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, the driver briefly stopped after hitting the boy but then fled southbound on North Garland Avenue. Investigators say the truck had been traveling eastbound on Apollo Road before turning south onto North Garland Avenue, putting it directly in the path of the marked crosswalk where the boy was crossing.
The intersection sits in a suburban residential stretch of northern Garland next to Holford Park, an area that regularly sees pedestrian and bicycle traffic connecting neighborhood homes and schools to nearby arterial roads, according to Redfin. Under Texas Transportation Code § 551.352, electric scooters like the one the boy was riding are legally permitted on public roads with posted speed limits of 35 mph or lower, giving riders the same general traffic rights as bicyclists, per FindLaw.
What Investigators Know About the Truck and Driver
Police describe the vehicle as a white, four-door utility-style work truck with storage compartments built along the sides of its bed. Per investigators, the driver may be a heavy-set man with a short buzz-cut hairstyle, though no further identifying details have been released. Garland police are asking anyone with information, witnesses, dashcam footage, or other leads to come forward, and investigators have asked the driver himself to contact police directly.
Anyone with information can call the Garland Police Department's non-emergency line at 972-485-4840. Garland Crime Stoppers also offers cash rewards of up to $5,000 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest in ongoing investigations, according to the Garland Police Department.
The Legal Stakes for a Driver Who Flees
If the driver is identified and charged, Texas law imposes serious consequences for fleeing a crash involving injury. Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, leaving the scene of a collision resulting in personal injury carries penalties of up to five years in state prison or up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000, while fleeing a crash that causes serious bodily injury escalates to a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison, according to FindLaw.
Separately, Texas Transportation Code § 545.428, enacted through the Lisa Torry Smith Act, makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a driver to operate a vehicle with criminal negligence in a crosswalk and injure an electric scooter rider or pedestrian, a charge that escalates to a state jail felony if the victim suffers serious bodily injury, per the citizen road safety group that tracks the statute. The law was created specifically to increase driver accountability and protect pedestrians and micro-mobility riders in designated crosswalks.
A Broader Pattern of Danger for Non-Motorized Road Users
The Garland case reflects a wider problem across Texas roads. State data for 2024 recorded 6,095 pedestrian-related traffic crashes statewide, resulting in 772 deaths and 1,455 serious injuries, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Pedestrians made up only about 1 percent of all traffic crashes that year, yet accounted for 19 percent of total roadway fatalities, illustrating how little physical protection non-motorized road users have when struck by a vehicle.
Hit-and-run incidents make that vulnerability worse. Nationally, nearly one out of every four pedestrians killed in traffic crashes — 23 percent — are struck by drivers who flee the scene, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Dallas County alone, 2024 crash data recorded 46,257 motor vehicle collisions, including 305 fatal crashes and 331 total fatalities, per crash-tracking site ThatCarHitMe.com. State figures also show 2,748 pedalcyclist and micro-mobility crashes across Texas in 2024, causing 78 deaths and 428 suspected serious injuries, underscoring the growing safety concerns as scooters and similar devices become more common on Texas streets.
For now, the Garland boy remains in stable condition, and police continue to search for the driver and the white work truck last seen heading south on North Garland Avenue. No arrests have been announced.
