A night out turned tragic for two siblings and their friend, as a police chase concluded in a horrendous collision, claiming four lives and injuring 13 others.
In TAMPA, Fla., two brothers who had lived through the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting nearly six years ago found themselves injured in a fatal crash in Ybor City.
Connor and Brandon Dietrich were enjoying an evening in Ybor City with their long-time friend, Riley Hancock, when disaster struck. Seated at an outdoor table at Bradley’s on 7th, the trio was suddenly caught in the path of a vehicle.
Brandon, though initially trapped against a glass wall by the car, managed to free himself. Unlike his brother and friend, he avoided severe injury and immediately sprang into action to assist them.
“He discovered Connor lying in a pool of blood and then noticed someone with a severe forehead cut, realizing it was Riley,” recounted their father, Bob. “Brandon instinctively began helping.”
Bob shared that Brandon’s quick response is a skill he developed during the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, where both brothers were present in school.
“He’s never opened up to us about that, and I was afraid we were going to have the same kind of an issue with this,” he said. “But surprisingly, you can see it in his eyes, he’s struggling, but he’s talking, which is, that’s the most important thing he can do, so he’s doing remarkably well.”
Connor, a USF graduate, is still hospitalized at St. Joseph’s with severe injuries.
“He’s got several skull fractures on the left side of his head,” Bob said. “He’s got a broken shoulder, clavicle, a lacerated spleen.”
He said they are waiting on MRI results to find out how his brain was affected by the crash.
“We just don’t know; I don’t know if I’m going to have my son back,” he said.
As for the driver accused of causing the crash, more felony charges were filed against him on Tuesday. Court records also show his next appearance is on Thursday.
There’s a GoFundMe for Connor’s medical bills and another GoFundMe for Riley Hancock’s medical bills.
