Insets: Kyle Eck and his three children. Background: The area in Washington state where Kyle Eck was allegedly mowed down by a 17-year-old hit-and-run driver as he tried pushing them to safety (KPTV/YouTube).
A 17-year-old in Washington state mowed down a father and his kids while the dad was taking them home from school and then worked an entire shift before telling his mother what happened and turning himself in, cops report. The father says he was using a crosswalk and got hit while attempting to push his children to safety.
"We used to be able to walk across the crosswalk, and now that's no longer a part of our life," said Kyle Eck, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and had to have a chunk of his skull removed, in an interview with local Fox affiliate KPTV this week.
"We won't do that anymore," Eck said.
The 17-year-old who hit Eck was driving his grandmother's 2008 Nissan Versa when he struck Eck and his children — ages 10, 7 and 6 — while turning left onto Southeast 136th Avenue from Seventh Street in Vancouver, Washington, in November 2025. The family was walking across 136th when the teen plowed into them and then fled, according to a police press release.
"I didn't understand how somebody could do that," Eck's fiancee and the children's mother, Kaylee Johns, told KPTV. "With it being the time of day it was, they knew they hit somebody, let alone how many."
Eck's eldest child had one of her teeth pushed in and the 7-year-old suffered severe road rash to his face, according to the family. The 6-year-old also experienced road rash on her legs. Eck had to get a craniectomy and cranioplasty for a brain bleed, as well as a tracheostomy to help him breathe as a result of his injuries.
"We were told they didn't know if he was going to make it," Johns said. "It was a waiting game. With how severe his traumatic brain injury was, it didn't look good. At times, we were told that in a couple of days we might have to make decisions."
Court documents obtained by KPTV describe how the teen went to his job and worked an entire shift before coming home and telling his mom what happened. He allegedly turned himself in while accompanied by his family.
"We understand he's 17," Johns said. "Kyle will have to deal with this for the rest of his life."
A GoFundMe launched for Eck and his family says he was in a medically induced coma following his emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.
The teen driver's trial is scheduled to begin on March 23.
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