ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — After being hit by a car while riding his bike, 15-year-old Dakota Courington and his family are still waiting for justice and working to adjust to their new normal.
"We just want him back the way he was but we know it's not going to happen that way," says Dakota's father Jack Courington.
It was a late-summer day with a similar rhythm. Dakota was spending the day at a friend's house. He was only a couple blocks from home when his typical bike ride took a turn for the worse.
Dakota was hit by a silver SUV. His father Jack recounted the terrifying moments. He said when his teen son hit the ground the driver ran him over and kept driving.
"They don't have a conscience. They can just run somebody's kid over like a bag of garbage in the street and just keep going," he says.
Jack says shortly after, police officers were at his door to tell him his son was involved in an accident. When he got to the scene his son was still there, but he wasn't moving.
First responders rushed Dakota to Toledo Hospital where, his dad says, they had to remove the left side of his brain, but he was able to wake up out of his coma - waving, giving high fives, playing some games, and trying to speak.
Dakota was in rehab for 3 days before his condition took a dark turn.
Jack said Dakota's tracheostomy tube plugged by mistake and caused his heart to stop for 16 minutes.
Doctors were able to get him stabilized and moved him to Corewell Hospital in Royal Oak, where Dakota is now.
Kevin Putnam, the Adrian Police Detective on the case, is working to find the person responsible. He says in the digital age we live in, it's only a matter of time before they can sift through the data.
"If the person involved in this crash happened to be traveling with a cell phone in their pockets, there is a very significant chance I already know everything about the device and their phone number," said Detective Putnam.
If you have any information, police are asking you to call 517-264-4819.
