Fort Worth 16-year-old in coma after hit while using crosswalk

FORT WORTH, Texas - A 16-year-old is in a medically induced coma after someone hit him while crossing the street at his school in Fort Worth and kept driving over the weekend.

The teen was critically injured after a hit-and-run driver plowed into him in a crosswalk at Timber Creek High School that some have called dangerous for years.

Aaron Lancaster should have been at a UIL theater competition with classmates on Tuesday. But instead, his family took time out from his bedside to plead for the driver to come forward.

Aaron’s father, John, says they are now bringing him off sedation but are keeping him on heavy pain medications for all his broken bones.

Aaron was using a well-marked crosswalk with flashing lights. But his father says it wasn't enough to prevent other accidents, and it wasn't enough to protect his son.

Aaron, a passionate thespian, was on his way home about 8 p.m. Sunday from Timber Creek High School theater rehearsals. His father says a woman who called 911 saw the flashing crosswalk lights activated, but the driver ahead of her plowed into Aaron anyway. His brother, Anthony, happened to drive up on the accident.

“I saw they were loading up someone into the ambulance to get them the help that they need,” Anthony recalled. “But I didn't find out till afterwards that was Aaron, my little brother.”

The crosswalk on busy Alta Vista Road at the Funnel Street intersection has been a source of concern over the years. A 13-year-old was hit in 2014, and parents rallied to get lights installed on the 40 miles per hour road. But even that didn't prevent a teen from being stuck by a truck in 2015.

“When somebody is in a crosswalk crossing properly, they shouldn't have to be in fear of some driving by and hitting them,” John said.

“If someone hadn't been there to see what happened who knows how long he may have been laying there in the road,” said Rebecca, Aarons’ sister. “He may have even been hit again.”

John says the outpouring of support for his son has been uplifting in a very difficult time, evidence of Aaron's kind and loving spirit.

“I don't think he knows how to hate. He only knows how to love,” John said. “And by doing that, that's what everybody is doing in return.”

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact the Fort Worth Police Department.