Traumatized mother speaks out about when her toddler was hit and killed by a car on Easter Sunday – ‘I collapsed right next to him’ – and warns parents
- Hunter Dew was only four when he was hit by a car on April 8, 2012
- Mother Renee Cooper remembered the traumatic event
A heartbroken mother recalls the horrific moment when her toddler died after being hit by a car on a busy main road.
Hunter Dew was killed on Easter Sunday in 2012 after turning onto Port Elliot Road in South Australia and was struck by an oncoming vehicle and dragged several metres.
Mother Renee Cooper, now 41, sprinted to her son and yelled at the driver to call an ambulance.
Minutes earlier, the loving, energetic boy and his family were enjoying time together feeding ducks at the Lakala Reserve and on their way home.
Now Ms. Cooper is on a mission to keep children’s lives safe by advocating for safer traffic restrictions and calling on people to think twice about their driving.
Mum Renee Cooper (pictured left) sadly lost her third child Hunter Dew (right) in a car accident after he turned onto a busy main road
Little Hunter Dew tragically died on Easter Sunday in 2012 after turning onto Port Elliot Road in South Australia and was hit by an oncoming vehicle and dragged several metres. Ms Cooper, now 41, sprinted to her son and yelled at the driver to call an ambulance
It happened in a fraction of a second. I yelled for him to stop, but it happened so fast,” Ms Cooper said.
‘I’ve seen it all. He was hit and dragged onto the road under the car because his hoodie got caught on the front license plate.
“I remember running down the road to him, falling to the ground and sitting next to him. My clothes were completely soaked with his blood.’
The driver got out of the car and Mrs. Cooper yelled at him to call an ambulance.
Nearby paramedics rushed to the devastation site and tried to work on Hunter, but unfortunately it was too late. Hunter was gone.
The shocking scene put Ms. Cooper in a “zombie” state and she can’t remember how long paramedics were there or who called them.
“It’s like living in a nightmare, but you feel like you’re going to stop breathing because your heart might stop and give in to the pain,” she said.
“You can’t compare losing a child to anything on earth because it’s so painful.”
A funeral was held for Hunter the following week and “hundreds” of people from the community joined to mourn.
A month later it would have been his fifth birthday.
A month later would have been Hunter’s fifth birthday
Ms. Cooper described Hunter as a “very loving, happy” little boy who was “always full of energy” and loved to play with his siblings and cousins (pictured left to right: Hunter with siblings Indiana, Wyatt and Madison)
At the start of Easter Sunday, Mrs. Cooper awoke to Hunter enthusiastically running into her room to eat some chocolate.
‘I love you mom!’ he said jumping on the bed, and she said it back.
“He was excited about the Easter celebrations and everything that came with it…flash forward to later in the day when the kids and I decided to go to the park before it started raining,” Ms. Cooper told FEMAIL.
Little did she know that what would unfold that day would change her life forever.
“On a whim, we decided to go to the park and feed the ducks at the pond,” she said.
But when it started to rain, Mrs. Cooper and her four children took shelter and then decided to go back home.
The heartbroken mother described Hunter as a “very loving, happy” little boy who was “always full of energy” and loved to play with his siblings and cousins.
His favorite activity was dressing up as Buzz Lightyear or Spiderman and he had just started kindergarten.
Ms Cooper also says the speed limit on the main road on which Hunter died should be reduced to 40km/h as she continues to advocate for road safety.
“If you’re tired, drinking, on drugs or not an alert driver, don’t get in the car,” she said.