Family In Mourning After 2-Year-Old Fatally Struck By Two Cars

CLEVELAND CO.– A Cleveland County family is devastated, mourning the loss of their 2-year-old son. Investigators say the toddler wandered away from his house and was hit and killed by two cars early Wednesday morning.

WCCB talked to a man who says he’s the grandfather of the toddler. He says the toddler’s name is Bruce Fleming.

“Always happy, always smiling, always in a good mood. He called me Papa Tommy,” says Bruce’s grandfather Tommy Fleming.

State Troopers say a 2-year-old child got out of his house on South Post Street a little before six this morning, while his grandmother and other family was sleeping. A driver saw the toddler and attempted to stop and pull over. Before the driver could get to the boy, the child darted in the road. That’s when one car hit the child, and then a second car. Both drivers did stop. State Troopers say no charges are being filed at this time.

Neighbors say South Post Street is a busy road, where people tend to speed.

“People don’t know how to slow down, they’re speeding and trying to get to work, if they leave a few minutes early they can get there on time,” says Patterson Springs resident Patty McDaniel.

Investigators are still trying to figure out how the 2-year-old got out of the house. Fleming says Bruce’s parents were not home because they both work third shifts.

“They are horrified, their devastated, they are numb, there crying. They just don’t know what to do next,” says Fleming.