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Family of Michigan teen who was hit by vehicle while helping stranded driver seeks accountability

By
Jack Springgate
Jack Springgate
Jack Springgate joins the CBS News Detroit team after working for nearly seven years as a news reporter and anchor in South Bend, Ind., and Minot, North Dakota.
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Jack Springgate

/ CBS Detroit

A Michigan family is searching for answers after their 16-year-old son was hit by a vehicle while helping a stranded driver on the side of the road in Dearborn Heights. 

They're now calling on the Dearborn Heights Police Department to explain why the person who hit him has yet to be held accountable.

Alexander Johnson's family says the teen was doing what they raised him to do: to help someone when they see they're in need. However, when that random act of kindness landed Johnson in the hospital, his family was trying to understand why the person who hit him was let go with only a citation.

"My son's life is changed while this man enjoyed his holidays," said the teen's father, William Johnson.

The family says two days before Christmas, Alexander Johnson was trying to jump-start another driver's car on the side of the road when he was hit. After shattering his right leg, requiring numerous surgeries, his family hopes he'll one day get back to his love of riding dirt bikes.

"He's already talking about, 'I never want to ride my dirt bike again. We're going to sell my dirt bike,' and I said, 'Nope. We're going to do this. You're going to figure it out. We're going to figure it out,'" William Johnson said.

The family claims the driver was only issued a citation for failing to stop and for no proof of insurance at the time of the accident, but they haven't heard anything new from Dearborn Heights police since.

The Johnson family says that they are caught in insurance hassles in the aftermath of the incident, saying their medical insurer wants the drivers' insurers to help pay for the boy's bills. However, they claim the driver who struck him doesn't have insurance.  

CBS News Detroit contacted the Dearborn Heights Police Department for comment and did not hear back at the time this story was published. 

The family says they're not only frustrated with police due to waiting for some sort of justice for their son, but also with the way they say he was treated while in agony.

"For their lack of compassion toward my son. Their lack of care was just unfathomable. I am very upset with that," William Johnson said.

The family has created a account to support the teen.

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