Family, friends hold vigil for Lakota East student hit by pickup truck (2024)

By Mike Schell and FOX19 Digital Staff

Published: May. 19, 2024 at 10:34 PM EDT|Updated: May. 20, 2024 at 4:23 AM EDT

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (WXIX) - Over 100 supporters flocked to West Chester for a vigil for a 15-year-old Lakota East High School freshman who is fighting for his life.

Friends, family members, classmates, and school staff held candles and paused for a moment of silence for Aspen Dylan Runnels at The Square at Union Centre in West Chester Township.

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Aspen was taken by ambulance to the University Cincinnati West Chester Hospital with serious injuries and then flown to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Avondale, according to Sheriff Richard Jones.

The teen remains in critical condition and a medically induced coma, according to updates from his mother on Facebook.

“This is the third isolated incident at Lakota,” Aspen’s sister said Sunday. “I wouldn’t call that isolated. I think if we can build a bridge or a park, we can build a bridge for a crosswalk.”

Other classmates shared similar sentiments.

“I’m more angry than anything and to hear Lakota East continue to downplay the safety hazard that’s a play over there at the intersection,” said Zachary Jordan, Aspen’s stepbrother. “I see it in my mind’s eye. I can’t imagine what he had to have felt when he was laying there on the ground.”

Aspen’s classmate Liani Tirado-Crespo wore a purple ribbon in support of her best friend and described him as “Very, very funny, very supportive. Always there when you need a hand.

Liani pleaded: “Come back so that I can hug [you] again and we can go hang out again. Play Minecraft again. Come to my house, go out, eat...do everything we did last summer.”

His mother is releasing updates about Aspen’s condition on Facebook.

“This community is strong, and the way you have all come together for Aspen is inspiring to all of the family,” she wrote Saturday. “We all know Aspen is a fighter, and he is resilient. We believe with all our hearts he can come through this.”

He is still in the critical 48-hour range before it is known how extensive his brain injury is, his mother wrote.

On Sunday night, her update said the family received the results of his CT scan and “It is unfortunate to report that the scan was not promising. The doctors said based on the swelling and injury to the brain, it is unlikely that if Aspen survives he will ever be himself again. He will almost certainly be paralyzed on the left side at least, and probably have language and other deficits.”

Parts of his brain can’t be seen well so he will undergo an MRI and other tests on Tuesday, the update states.

“Wednesday the family will sit with the doctors and go over the results and make decisions about quality of life and survival. This, although not a shock to us, has been incredibly hard news for us to absorb. We love Aspen with all of our hearts and souls, and we need complete information from the medical team to make an informed decision about the best choice going forward.”

His mother wrote that she is spending 24 hours at her son’s beside and requested prayers: “Please everyone, if you’re going to pray or send well wishes, hope for Aspen’s comfort and the strength of the family to potentially make a very difficult decision. Thank you to all who came out at the vigil. We were not able to attend due to the information from today, but I’m so happy to hear he was so loved and supported by the community.”

She ended the Facebook post with #rallyforaspen.

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