Left inset: Joshua Driver (GoFundMe). Right inset: John Daniel Bruehl (Henrico County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Virginia Arby’s that Joshua Driver was walking home from when John Daniel Bruehl allegedly mowed the 16-year-old down and killed him (Google Maps).
An “autistic and mentally disabled” teen in Virginia was mowed down and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from Arby’s, his family says. The 16-year-old “missed the last bus” and left a reflective vest he typically wears at home, according to his mother.
“He had one of those vests given to him by the bus operator,” said Sharon Driver, mother of victim Joshua Driver, in an interview with local CBS affiliate WTVR. “But the day before I washed it, so it was in the washer still … and I hadn’t had a chance to dry it.”
John Daniel Bruehl, 41, was driving under the influence when he struck and killed Joshua in Henrico County along West Broad Street, according to police. Joshua left his home to go to Arby’s on Friday night with his brother and missed the bus they usually take on their way back, so he was forced to walk.
“[The brother] came back on his own on [the] last bus, and Joshua missed the last bus,” Driver told local ABC affiliate WRIC. “I believe that Josh was walking back … when this happened to him.”
Bruehl is accused of crashing into Joshua and leaving the scene. Cops say the teen’s body was found in a grassy area on the shoulder of the road about three hours later, early Saturday morning.
“This man just hit him and ran away,” Driver told WTVR. “How can he do that to my son? I feel like he has no heart. He didn’t have a heart.”
A GoFundMe launched for Joshua’s family describes him as an “autistic and mentally disabled” boy who “didn’t always understand everything” but was “aware of what was happening around him.”
One of the worst things about what happened, according to Driver, is not knowing whether her son “suffered” after being hit.
“I don’t know if he suffered or if he died instantly,” she told WRIC. “He didn’t even grow up. He didn’t become an adult.”
Bruehl is charged with DUI and hit-and-run. Arrest records show this is his second alleged DUI offense “in 5 to 10 years.”
“It hurts people, it kills people,” Driver told WRIC about driving under the influence. “It killed my son.”
