A 17-year-old boy working alongside his father for the family business was hit by a car and killed Saturday. News4’s Julie Carey reports on the tragedy, and tells what car police need help finding.
Nearly eight months after a teenager working with his dad was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Gainesville, Prince William County police arrested and charged a man with involuntary manslaughter.
Raymond Robinson's sedan was found to have damage consistent with the crash that took the life of 17-year-old Adrian Iraheta Sept. 22.
Investigators received a tip in September that led them to Robinson’s car, which had damage consistent with the crash, police said. Robinson turned himself into police on Tuesday. He is being held without bond on the manslaughter charge and a felony hit and run charge.
On the day he was struck, Iraheta went to church and then helped his father with the family's paving business. They often worked at night because cooler temperatures made for better conditions.
The boy was working alongside his dad sealing an asphalt driveway in the area of Sudley Road in Gainesville Sept. 22. They were putting their tools away in a pickup that was facing the wrong way on the road. The headlights and flashers were on, but they saw a car coming toward them.
Fearing a collision, Iraheta and his father jumped out of the truck. The father jumped into the yard. Iraheta jumped into the street.
"I guess the driver kind of jerked his wheel right at the last second, and as the son was jumping into the street, he hit him," homeowner Byron Martinez recalled the father saying.
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The sedan struck Iraheta and threw him in the air. The driver sped off, and Iraheta was pronounced dead at the scene.
Martinez spoke with Iraheta's father after the tragedy.
"I called his dad and he said, 'They killed my son. Somebody struck my son, and he's dead,'" Martinez recalled the father saying. "They're a hard-working family. He's a really good kid.”
Robinson, 34, of Haymarket, is set to appear in court in July.
CORRECTION (May 15, 2019, 4:20 p.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated Robinson was driving the wrong way down the road.
