Hastings child dies after father hits him with truck

Traffic Homicide investigators from the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Children and Families are continuing their investigation into the death of 3-year-old Christopher Lee Lamer, who lived on Turpin Avenue in Hastings.

The boy’s father, 28-year-old Samuel Perkins, was reportedly moving materials from the back yard to the front yard in his Ford pick-up truck. As the father was backing up, he did not see the child behind him playing in a plastic toy car. He struck his son with the truck shortly before 2:00 p.m. yesterday.

Deputies arrived to find the father screaming for help and administering CPR to the child. First responders then took over life saving measures.

The boy was treated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and transported to Flagler Hospital by air ambulance. Because of the severity of his injuries, the boy was stabilized and airlifted to UF Health Trauma Center in Jacksonville, where he died.