“He was almost home to me”: Buckeye mother devastated after son killed while riding bike

BUCKEYE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A Buckeye family is mourning the loss of their 4-year-old boy who was set to turn five in less than two weeks after he was hit and killed in his neighborhood as he rode his bike home. It happened on Sunday afternoon near Watson and Yuma roads.

It was a bike trip 4-year-old Robbie Mead had made many times before in Leaf Verde RV Resort to the complex park, but this time he didn’t return home. “And on his way home, that’s when he got hit, and we heard sirens and somebody saying a kid got hit. That’s when I went running and saw him on the ground,” said Gabby Mead, Robbie’s mother. “He was almost home to me.”

Mead said she is devastated that her little boy, who made friends with everyone he met, is gone. “It’s heartbreaking. We read about it on the news happening to other families, and you never think it could be your family and your son, and when you find out, it’s just earth-shattering,” said Mead.

Buckeye police are investigating the collision. Detectives said that speed and impairment do not appear to be factors in the crash. Police said the driver stayed at the scene and attempted to save Robbie.

The listed speed limit at Leaf Verde is 10 miles per hour. “It’s hard to think that if he was going 10 miles per hour, he couldn’t stop cause I’ve gone up and down these aisles. I’ve had kids run out in front of me and I could stop, so why couldn’t he,” said Mead.

Now, there is a growing memorial for Robbie at the spot where he was killed, complete with chalk messages of mourning. “He was a light in this dark world,” said Mead. “I want people to remember him as a happy kid.”

If you’d like to help the family with funeral expenses, click/tap here.

Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.