“This world is full of rushing people. Simple mistakes happen, and innocent people pay the price,” the mother of Keegan Brooks said
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NEED TO KNOW
- Keegan Brooks, 9, was fatally struck by a car while riding his bike near his Durham home
- His mother is urging drivers to slow down and encouraging acts of kindness in his memory
- Keegan’s school is providing counseling to help students cope with the loss of their classmate
A North Carolina mother is grieving the loss of her child and calling for change after the boy was fatally struck by a car while playing outside.
In an interview with ABC 11 on Monday, Sept. 14, Courtney Brooks recalled the last time she spoke to her son, 9-year-old Keegan Brooks, before a vehicle driving down a street in their neighborhood hit and killed him.
“I was like, ‘All right, be careful. We’re getting ready to go to baseball practice,’ ” she told the fourth grader as he rode his bike with a friend near their Durham home.
“And I said, ‘We’re getting ready to go. I’ll see you in a little bit.’ And he’s like, ‘All right, I’ll see you a little bit.’ And that was it,” she told the news station.
It was approximately 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13 when Keegan’s friend “came running up the street and screaming in the house” to say her son had been hit near Knightwood Drive and Bengel Drive.
“He was just laying there,” Brooks said in the emotional interview, sharing her last memory of her child. “I screamed for him to come back. There’s nothing I could have done.”
The driver was a woman in a 2020 Hyundai Palisade, WRAL reported, citing the Durham Police Department.
PEOPLE reached out to the Durham Police Department for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Both outlets said no charges have been filed against the driver, and an investigation remains ongoing.
Through her grief, Brooks has asked that her community and others who may hear their story learn from her family’s loss.
“Love your babies. Be careful when you’re driving through a neighborhood because there might be a kid on a bike. Slow down. Take your time. This world is full of rushing people. Simple mistakes happen, and innocent people pay the price,” she said, per CBS 17.
Keegan was a student at Oak Grove Elementary School. The school’s principal sent out a letter on Monday to inform parents, faculty and staff of Keegan’s death, and to let them know counselors would be available to support students in the aftermath of the tragedy.
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“We urge you to talk to your child. Young people need caring adults with whom they can discuss their feelings about death and dying. We encourage you to take this opportunity to share your beliefs and discuss ways of coping with the feelings your child may experience,” the district said in a statement, per the outlet.
Brooks remembered Keegan as a “momma’s boy,” who loved snuggling with her in the mornings.
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