PEORIA, AZ — A 13-year-old has life-threatening injuries after a crash in Peoria Thursday morning.
Peoria Fire Medical Department says emergency crews found the teen near 98th Avenue and Deer Valley Road around 7 a.m.
The teen, identified as River Jaice Argame, was reportedly struck by a vehicle before being taken to the hospital for treatment.
Argame's family lives yards away from Sunset Heights Elementary School, which he attends. Though, he also takes an advanced algebra class at Liberty High School, which is half a mile away from Sunset Heights.
Peoria Unified School District tells ABC15 he attends the class every day, for the first hour of school.
Argame's dad, Ricardo, tells us his son is in critical condition at Phoenix Children’s hospital.
"It's so sad to hear that a kid got hit by a car," said Pavani Dittakavi, who lives a few yards away from where the teen was struck. "When the school runs, you know someone should be there to guide or stop the cars."
Jeff Cross adds it's getting more and more dangerous on Deer Valley Road.
"It's just sad that it takes very tragic and unfortunate events for awareness to come around situations like this but we see every morning there's tragic situations like this. This isn't the first or the second time students have been hit crossing deer valley road," Cross told ABC15.
Peoria police say impairment does not appear to be a factor in the crash, but the investigation is ongoing.
*Editor's note: Peoria police originally stated that the victim was 16, but family says the child is 13.
