Tyler Phillips, William Paca Middle School student, in critical condition after Coram hit-and-run, police say
Suffolk County police and firefighters on the scene where two teenage pedestrians, a brother and sister, were struck by an unknown driver's vehicle on Granny Road near Middle Island Road in Coram on Wednesday night. Credit: Stringer News Service
A 13-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was struck in Coram by a hit-and-run driver in a crash that also injured the boy's sister, police said.
Tyler Phillips, of Route 112 in Medford, had been walking west with the sister, Krystal Randolph, who lived with her brother and is also age 13, in the bike lane on Granny Road near Middle Island Road when an "unknown vehicle" being driven in the same direction crashed into both teens about 7:25 p.m. Wednesday, according to an email from the police press office providing an account of the crash.
The motorist then drove off on Granny Road, headed west.
The two are eighth-graders at William Paca Middle School, according to a tweet posted Thursday morning by the William Floyd School District. After the crash, both teens were brought to Stony Brook University Hospital, according to police. Krystal sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Tyler Phillips, 13, in a picture his mother said was taken Saturday. Credit: Family handout
The William Floyd district and the siblings' former school district released notes of condolence their communities that said Tyler had died Thursday. But police said in an updated release Thursday night that he was in critical condition. "He is still alive," a department spokesman wrote in a separate email to Newsday.
In its condolence statement Thursday afternoon emailed to the public, the Longwood Central School District said the siblings are former students of its West Middle Island Elementary School.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tyler and Krystal’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement said.
The William Floyd note said that the two have another sibling who attends Tangier Smith Elementary School.
So far this year, 557 pedestrians have been injured in motor-vehicle crashes on Long Island — 360 in Nassau and 197 in Suffolk, according to the Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research. Of the 557, 26 died: 10 in Nassau and 16 in Suffolk. Those figures do not include Tyler.
A previous version of this story reported that Tyler had died based on information provided by the school districts. Another version misspelled Tyler's last name and listed the wrong hometown for both siblings based on incorrect information from police.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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