Driver surrenders day after collision with boy on go-kart.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - A Springfield woman turned herself in to police Monday, saying she was the driver of a car that hit a 13-year-old boy riding a go-kart on Sunday.

Witnesses said the car dragged the boy 80 feet, and then sped away after the boy's mother pulled him from under the car's bumper.

Lee Ann Dodd, 42, called Springfield police at 11 a.m. Monday and said she was the driver of the car that hit Terry Fowler about 6 p.m. Sunday, Sgt. Mike McCarthy said. Detectives drove to her house and interviewed her. She could be charged with felony hit and run, McCarthy said.

Fowler, in the meantime, remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Sacred Heart Medical Center. He suffered eight broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a collapsed lung, a punctured spleen and an assortment of other injuries in the crash in front of his family's home at 1820 I St., said his mother, Debbie Bodhaine.

Although he was not wearing a helmet, Fowler avoided serious head injuries, and doctors found no evidence of brain damage, his mother said. He was awake and speaking Monday, though groggy from painkillers.

"The doctor says it's a miracle he's alive," said Bodhaine, who witnessed the crash and ran screaming after the car as it dragged her son. "If he had died, I'd have blamed myself. I shouldn't have let him go out there without a helmet."

McCarthy said that if the driver had stopped the car instead of fleeing, the crash most likely would have been treated as an accident. The driver might have received a citation for a traffic violation, rather than face prosecution on a felony criminal charge, he said.

"If she was speeding and the kid darted out in front of her, they both contributed to the accident," he said. Leaving the scene made the matter more serious, he said. Police impounded Dodd's car for the investigation.

According to witnesses, Fowler, a Springfield Middle School student, took his new red go-kart for a spin around 6 p.m. Sunday. As his family and neighbors watched, he drove in circles on the front lawn, then inadvertently darted out into the roadway, McCarthy said.

At the same time, a white sedan came west on I Street. Bodhaine said she yelled to her son that a car was coming, but it was too late. The sedan hit the low-to-the-ground contraption, police and Bodhaine said. Witnesses told police the sedan appeared to be speeding.

The sedan continued west, dragging the boy and go-kart down the block. Bodhaine ran after the car, screaming at the driver to stop, she said.

When the car finally did stop, the front end of the sedan was pushed up over the go-kart, Fowler's family said.

Bodhaine said she and the driver looked at each other as the panicked mother pulled her son from beneath the bumper.

"He was limp," she said. "I was sure he was dead."

The driver backed off the go-kart and sped west on I Street. She took a right and went north on 16th Street, police said.

Bodhaine's husband called for help at 6:17 p.m. Medics took Fowler to the hospital, and officers searched the neighborhood for the car, described as a white 1990s four-door sedan, possibly a Buick Century. Police had few clues until Dodd called. Dodd could not be reached for comment because her phone number is unlisted.

Fowler's family was relieved to learn that the driver contacted police. Bodhaine called the development "good news."

"She should have stayed and waited to see if he was OK," Bodhaine said. "But I feel relief that she turned herself in because justice will be done, and she won't have to live with that on her conscience, not knowing if the boy was dead or alive."

CAPTION(S):

Terry Fowler was riding this go-kart when it was hit by a car; he suffered multiple injuries.