‘One of the hardest things you can deal with:’ 10-year-old boy hit by car and killed in Scottsburg

SCOTTSBURG, Ind. (WAVE) - Police in Scottsburg are investigating the death of a 10-year-old boy who was hit by a car.

According to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, the boy was hit on South Lake Road near Scottsburg Lake around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Family identified the boy on Thursday as Kayden Bibb.

Bibb was taken to Scott Memorial Hospital where he died from his injuries.

“I heard ‘dad’ and looked over and then boom seen him get hit,” Brent Bibb, the boy’s father, said. “He goes up 80 feet up into the air and then he went about 60 feet out into the water.”

Bibb said he and his son were wrapping up an afternoon fishing trip on the lakeside. He said Kayden was walking across the road when a car came over the hill and hit him.

“[I was] just in shock man, you know, in shock,” Bibb said. “I couldn’t believe my little boy was just laying there bleeding out. It’s just hard. I mean, one of the hardest things you can deal with.”

Kayden Bibb’s grandmother Tina Gladden said fishing was her grandson’s favorite hobby.

“He was a very [good] fisherman,” Gladden said. “He’d fish in the goldfish pond, in the cooler, he didn’t care. And if dad wouldn’t take fishing he’d go fishing in my goldfish pond.”

Laura Pratt, who lives nearby, heard the sound from her home.

“[It] sounded like somebody dropping like a plastic tackle box on the side of the road,” Pratt said.

Pratt said she looked out onto the road to see people in distress, running toward the water. She told WAVE 3 News she and her husband ran and heled Bibb pull his son from out of the lake. She said they gave the boy CPR until emergency crews arrived.

“We got to get his airway clear,” Pratt said. “[His] dad started breathing for him and then we started taking turns doing chest compressions until the EMT got there.”

On Thursday, Bibb returned to the scene, still trying to comprehend the horrific reality he experienced just 24 hours prior, wishing he could see his fishing buddy and best friend one last time.

“I wish I was just right there next to him to push him out of the car so it could’ve gotten me,” Biff said.

Scott County Sheriff Jerry Goodin told WAVE 3 News an Indiana State Police crash reconstruction team will analyze the data and make the determination on how and why the crash happened.

The driver of the car, a 17-year-old, was not hurt.

That investigation will then be presented to the prosecutor’s office to determine if charges will be filed.

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