Army veteran run over by EIGHT vehicles after falling from his motorcycle on his 26th birthday, as family questions how he was struck so many times: ‘He’s not a deer in the road, he is a human being’
The father of a decorated army veteran who died on his 26th birthday has spoken of his “nightmare” after hearing eight vehicles drove over him without stopping.
John “Jack” Dyer lost control of his motorcycle on U.S. Highway 27 west of Orlando on December 17 around 6:30 p.m. and struck the ground in the southbound center lane.
By the time the former paratrooper was found, he had been hit repeatedly by passing drivers, who were apparently unaware that they had just hit someone, according to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP).
“The first car probably killed him. I don't think he suffered, but how could all those cars keep hitting him?' said father John Dyer Snr, who also lost a daughter during the Covid pandemic.
“He's not a deer on the road, he's a human being.”
John 'Jack' Dyer was a decorated member of the 82nd Airborne Division prior to his honorable discharge in March 2023
Devastated father John Dyer senior described the experience as a 'nightmare', 'It's terrible, it's just crushing,' he said, 'God chose Jack's time. He didn't ask me, that's for sure.”
“Jack said, 'My grandfather was an immigrant, and I am an immigrant, and all immigrants should serve their country,'” said John Snr.
Hours earlier, John Snr and his wife Elizabeth had sent their son a happy birthday, but their messages and a voicemail from the mother went unanswered.
Two days later, officers from the Suffolk County Police Department knocked on the door of their New York home.
“They asked about John Dyer's family,” said John Snr Fox news.
“I assumed he had gotten a ticket or something and then they told me he was killed in a motorcycle accident.”
“It's terrible, I didn't know how to tell my wife.”
John Jnr was adopted from Russia as a five-year-old and joined his new family in New York, where his father worked as a firefighter with the NYFD before joining a hospital as a re-registered nurse.
John Jr. was just five years old when he was adopted by the family and moved to New York from his native Russia
They took him to Disney World after he told them that children in Russia were sure such a place did not exist.
'In Russia they told him it was just a made-up thing. When he came and we took him there he was ecstatic,” said John Snr.
“He was just so excited. We couldn't hold him, he ran after Mickey Mouse.'
John Jr. was so impressed by the experience that he moved to Orlando at age 19 and got a job as a security guard for Disney World.
But his ambitions didn't stop with Mickey Mouse and in 2019 he enrolled as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division after being afraid of heights as a boy.
“I don't know how he does it, he just overcame his fears,” his father said.
“He was afraid of the water and became an avid surfer in Montauk, Long Island. He was full of life.
“Jack said, 'My grandfather was an immigrant, and I am an immigrant, and all immigrants should serve their country,'” said John Snr.
“So he said, 'I'm going in.'
The young paratrooper was honorably discharged in March and was still living in the state when tragedy struck.
FHP says all eight drivers stopped when asked, and the matter remains an issue active investigation into traffic murders.
“He was afraid of the water, and then he became an avid surfer in Montauk, Long Island,” his father said, “he was full of life.”
“He was proud to be an American and to serve his country,” his parents said on his tribute page
“People tell me he was the most polite, well-mannered young man they ever met,” his father said
The spot on US Highway 27 west of Orlando, at the intersection with Frank Jarrell Road
John's family were preparing for Christmas without his sister Katy after her death just two years ago when they received their latest devastating news.
“It's a nightmare, it's horrible, it's just crushing,” said John Snr.
“People tell me he was the most polite, well-mannered young man they ever met, and he was good. He was honest and caring and we are very proud of him.
“God doesn't tell us when we're going to have a full life. You can have a full life at one month old, or a full life at 99.
“God chose Jack's time. He didn't ask me that, that's for sure.'