An 18-year-old Valley Station man is recovering from a collapsed lung, a ruptured artery and internal bleeding after a driver struck him while he crossed Dixie Highway at Valley Station Road and then drove off, leaving him in the road. Kingston Maestas had just left his shift at 7 Brew around 11:30 p.m. Friday when the crash happened, and witnesses stayed with him until emergency medical services arrived.
Maestas graduated from Valley High School, where he played football for four years, tore his ACL, and returned to the field after recovering, according to WAVE News. He arrived at a downtown trauma center in critical condition and without identification, meaning his family did not learn about the crash right away. His mother searched the neighborhood at 4 a.m. Saturday before the family connected the pieces.
The station's report details a grim list of injuries: a collapsed lung, a ruptured artery, internal bleeding in his spleen, road rash across his body and a broken nose. Kingston's father, David Magalogo, who has lived in Valley Station for eight years, said witnesses at the intersection may have improved his son's outcome by staying with him. Maestas is now up and walking and making significant recovery progress, per the same account, though the ordeal cost him his sister's birthday party, his scheduled shift, and plans to help a friend mow lawns.
Phone Answered by a Stranger, Bike Gone From the Scene
In the chaos after the crash, someone took Kingston's cell phone, and an unknown person later answered it by text, writing only, “Can't talk right now.” Someone else took his pocket bike from the scene before it could be retrieved, and his friends later found his shoes beneath a roadside post near the crash site. The person who eventually found the phone said it turned up near the crash site, but police have not identified who took it or who sent the text.
Louisville Metro Police officers moved Kingston's pocket bike to the side of the road and placed a tow order on it. Investigators obtained security camera footage from a nearby business that captured the moment of impact, and detectives have developed a description of the vehicle involved. The case has been turned over to Louisville Metro Police detectives, who are continuing to gather additional evidence. Kingston's family is asking anyone with information about the bike, the phone, or the crash to contact Louisville Metro Police.
A Father's Forgiveness, and a Push for Answers
Despite everything, Magalogo told WAVE News he has forgiven the driver who left his son in the road, even as he questions how someone could leave a badly hurt teenager behind without stopping. A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help cover Kingston's medical costs as his recovery continues.
The crash happened at Dixie Highway and Valley Station Road, an intersection that sits directly in front of Valley High School. General design issues along Dixie Highway, including lighting, turn lanes and conflict points, are discussed by Dixie Law Group. It's not the first time a student has been hurt crossing that stretch of highway — in August 2012, a 17-year-old girl was struck and seriously injured while crossing Dixie Highway at the same intersection, as reported by WDRB.
A Corridor Marked for Danger Despite a $35 Million Overhaul
Dixie Highway is officially designated on Louisville Metro's High Injury Network, a classification covering just 5% of the city's non-interstate road miles that nonetheless accounts for 55% of all fatal and severe-injury crashes citywide, according to Louisville Metro government data. The corridor was the subject of a $35 million overhaul known as The New Dixie Highway project, completed in 2020 by Louisville Metro and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which added raised medians, signal improvements and wider sidewalks in an effort to reduce traffic fatalities. According to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, The New Dixie Highway was a $35 million investment to improve safety, mobility, and livability along the corridor. Even after that investment, the corridor remains among the city's most active crash zones.
The intersection falls within the patrol area of Louisville Metro Police's Third Division, which is headquartered nearby at 7219 Dixie Highway and covers southwest Jefferson County communities including Valley Station and Pleasure Ridge Park. Citywide, nearly 75% of Louisville's traffic fatalities occur on surface roads rather than interstates and expressways, with 128 people killed and 523 seriously injured in crashes on Louisville-area roads in 2022, per data cited by Safe Roads USA. Vision Zero Louisville safety reports also address pedestrian safety.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's 2016 and 2020 reports cover hit-and-run collisions in Kentucky.
Legal Exposure and a Broader Push for Tougher Penalties
Under Kentucky Revised Statute 189.580, leaving the scene of a crash that causes physical injury or death is a Class D felony if the driver is identified and convicted. Louisville Metro's Vision Zero framework addresses roadway safety.
A woman was killed in a hit-and-run near Russell Lee Park after a vehicle left Louis Coleman Drive and Dumesnil Street. Regardless of broader questions about penalties for drivers who flee severe crash scenes, Kingston's family says their focus remains on his recovery — and on finding answers about the driver, the phone, and the bike that vanished from the scene.
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