Largo Community Remembers Boy Who Was Struck and Killed While Skateboarding

Neighbors are remembering a local child who was run over Sunday as he pushed himself down the driveway on his skateboard into the street, according to Largo Police.

On Monday afternoon, community members had placed stuffed toys, a candle and flowers near where 8-year-old Elijah Ryan Crayton was struck. Outside the child's home, when asked how the family was doing, his uncle simply said they are "doing."

A couple neighbors shared memories of Elijah. 

"Elijah was really adorable. He would lie flat on his skateboard like he was
paddling a surfboard" as he rode the sidewalk near his Parkview Lane home, said neighbor Bill Reichold.

Neighbor Philipp Michel Reichold, who works nights as a nurse, said he remembers giving Halloween candy to Elijah. He was a very happy, adorable, bright child, he said.

On Sunday afternoon, Bill Reichold had waved to Elijah, who was playing on his skateboard across the street on the sidewalk.

"I was in the garage doing chores when I heard this god-awful thump. I knew it was different than a regular auto accident, the way it sounded. I hurried in the house and called 9-1-1,"  Bill Reichold said.

According to Largo Police, the boy was sitting on top of a skateboard when he pushed himself into the roadway at the same time a car was headed southbound on Parkview Lane. The child was struck and run over by a 2001 Buick, which tried to stop, according to Sgt. George Edmiston, Traffic Homicide Unit supervisor.

Elijah was airlifted to a local hospital, where succumbed to his injuries, Edmiston said.

Elijah would have turned 9 on Christmas Eve.

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