Police: Boy hit by car while riding bike out of driveway, across West Outer

An Oak Ridge boy was hit by a car while riding a bike from a driveway on West Outer Drive across the road toward Waltham Lane on Thursday afternoon.

A witness said the eight-year-old boy rode in front of the car suddenly, not allowing the driver any time to stop or evade the collision.

“The collision appears to be unavoidable,” Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Trae Sweeten wrote in a report.

The boy was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville with “non-incapacitating evident injuries,” the report said. A hospital representative said records did not show the boy listed as a patient on Friday evening.

The car, a 2001 Hyundai Sonata four-door sedan, was driven west on West Outer Drive in a 25 mph zone by Robert J. Graf, 55, of Oliver Springs. Graf was wearing a shoulder and lap belt and was not injured, the report said.

The report said the boy was not using safety equipment.

It said the bike and car collided in the intersection of Waltham Lane and West Outer Drive. Tall bushes at 560 West Outer Drive blocked a westbound driver’s view of the driveway there, Sweeten said.

The report said the car traveled about 29 feet after it hit the boy and before it stopped, and the child then fell off the Hyundai’s hood and onto the road. Graf then took care of the boy, the report said.