LAKEPORT An 11-year-old Lakeport boy was the victim of a hit-and-run accident on Thursday, but thanks to the efforts of some good Samaritans, the driver was stopped.
Dakota Velez, 11, had stopped to say hello to a neighbor as he was walking along Eleventh Street in Lakeport near Tunis Street when a car jumped the curb, struck Velez and hit the speed limit sign but did not stop, according to DeAnna McCloud, a friend of Velez”s family and neighbor.
“Dakota flew through the air,” McCloud said. “I ran out to him, and I yelled to some teens across the street to stop the car, then I called 9-1-1.”
The teens took off running and someone else who was in a truck joined the chase and were able to catch up with the driver near Main Street, McCloud said.
Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke said that the driver of the car, 79-year-old Jose Reyes Gregorio, lost control of the vehicle. There have been no charges filed; the accident remains under investigation as Gregorio alleges to have no memory of the incident.
Burke said Gregorio has been cited for driving without a license and hit-and-run, which will be submitted to the district attorney”s office.
“Luckily we were outside when the accident happened,” McCloud said, who stayed with Dakota until the ambulance arrived.
According to McCloud, Dakota had abrasions on his head and arm and his right leg appeared broken. He will be transferred to the Children”s Hospital in Oakland when there is a bed available.
“He was so brave,” McCloud said, “He didn”t even shed a tear,” until he found out that he would miss his All Star baseball game, “poor little guy.”
A member of the Giants Little League baseball team, Dakota”s coach, Mason Nichols, has promised him that he can go to all of the practices and that he”ll even carry him onto the field, McCloud said.
Friends and neighbors of Dakota”s have opened an account at Lake Community Bank to help the Velez family, a single mother with three young boys, to help pay for expenses while she goes to Oakland.
