8-Year-Old Boy Struck by Golf Cart While Riding Bike Home from School. His Mom Claims the Driver ‘Kept Driving and Left Him’

“ ‘Shame on you’ doesn’t even scratch the surface,” his mom wrote in a message to the driver

NEED TO KNOW

• An 8-year-old boy, Leo VanOsdol, was struck by a golf cart while riding his bike home from school in South Carolina
• His mom, Meaghan VanOsdol, later claimed that the driver of the vehicle “kept driving and left him”
• “We’re in this big community, he was surrounded by a ton of adults, and he was just left,” Meaghan said

A South Carolina mom is asking her community for help after her son was injured in a golf cart hit-and-run. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Meaghan VanOsdol shared on Facebook that her 8-year-old son, Leo, was riding home from Cane Bay Elementary School on his bike when he was “hit by a golf cart,” after which she claimed the woman in the vehicle “kept driving and left him.”

While Meaghan was out of town for work and had no cell service when the incident occurred, she said her son was provided medical attention and is now okay.

“To the women who did this… I will save my choice words for off of Facebook,” she wrote in her post, urging the community to help her identify the driver.

“His birthday was on Monday, and he just got that bike for his birthday,” she continued of her son. “You ruined it. You hit him head on, so you KNOW what you did and you chose to keep going. ‘Shame on you’ doesn’t even scratch the surface.”

According to CBS affiliate WCSC, Leo sustained some scrapes and bruises from the incident that occurred on the Cane Bay Trail. His bike was severely damaged, with its entire front tire bent. 

“I remember my hands instantly trembling. I couldn’t even grab the phone quickly enough,” Meaghan recalled to the outlet. “Then, as soon as I got off the phone with Leo and knew that he was okay, it was the rush of emotions like anger, disappointment.”

“I felt very lonely in that moment,” she added, “because we’re in this big community, he was surrounded by a ton of adults, and he was just left.”

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Meaghan claimed that, after her son was struck by the golf cart, multiple people drove around him until one woman finally stopped to help him and call 911. 

“If it was your kid, you wouldn’t want them sitting there,” she told WCSC, emphasizing that she’s made it her mission to find the woman responsible. “Just put yourself in the shoes and know that what you did wasn’t okay. The accident itself, it happens. It’s an accident, but leaving him is just not acceptable.”

Since the incident occurred on a private trail and involved a golf cart rather than an automobile, Meaghan said that law enforcement told her she couldn’t file charges. 

“It can’t just be something where this trail goes into the woods unseen and no one monitors it, especially if it’s private,” she said, per WCSC. “I think the same way that a school zone is treated on a road, it should be treated on a trail right next to a school. So whether it’s speed bumps put in, signs, the trail being monitored in this area, something along those lines.”

Meaghan shared in a Facebook update that their community has since worked together to surprise Leo with a new bike.