9-year-old killed in Midlands hit-and-run car wreck
A 9-year-old child has died and authorities are investigating after a car crash in Sumter County in which the driver of one of the vehicles reportedly left the scene.
According to Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker, Jaiden Thompson, 9, died March 20 at Prisma Health Richland from injuries he sustained in a March 15 car wreck in Sumter. The coroner said an autopsy was set to be performed Tuesday morning at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The wreck happened at about 8 p.m. March 15 in the 4200 block of Highway 15 South in Sumter.
According to South Carolina Highway Patrolman David Jones, there were two cars involved in the wreck. Thompson and four other people were in one of the vehicles, a 1999 Honda. All five people in that Honda were taken to the hospital.
The other car was a 2005 Chevy Tahoe. As of Tuesday morning, the Highway Patrol said the driver of that Tahoe was unknown.
Both cars were reportedly traveling south on Highway 15. The Honda was slowing down, and the Tahoe hit the back of the Honda, Jones said. After the crash, the driver of the Tahoe fled the scene on foot, Jones said.
The crash remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol’s Major Accident Investigation Team.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 10:58 AM.
