ELYRIA, Ohio — The family of a 9-year-old killed while riding his bike over the weekend is echoing calls for safety improvements on an Elyria road.
Police say 9-year-old Bryant Tide Bartlett, known as Tide, was killed, and 10-year-old Aiden Helland was critically injured when the boys were hit by a car on Burns Road Saturday evening.
Doorbell camera footage captured a brief conversation between the two friends before they left Tide’s home for their bike ride.
“Do you want to go to my other friend’s house or do you want to go to the park?” Tide asks.
Aiden responds, “The park.”
The two boys can be seen jumping on a pair of bicycles as their conversation trailed off.
“He got that bike, man, and he was gone. That was it. It was his favorite thing to do,” said Tide’s mother, Sarah Jobst.
She described her younger son as an energetic, caring and helpful child.
“He was just a huge, loveable teddy bear that everybody just fell in love with,” she said. “His heart was the biggest heart in any human being I have ever known.”
Jobst told News 5 she relocated Tide and his 12-year-old bother to Elyria from Georgia after her younger son experienced bullying and challenges in school.
“You do everything for your kids and this move up here was for him because he needed that fresh start. He had a very rough year last year in school,” she said. “He was doing amazing up here.”
She said he was quickly making new friends, like 10-year-old Aiden. The pair spent Friday night at Aiden’s Vermilion home and had planned a movie night and sleepover at Tide’s house Saturday.
“The air mattress is still out where he left it, to get ready for them to have an indoor camp-out,” Jobst said. “We were just going to watch movies and eat popcorn.”
Shortly before 6 p.m., the boys rode their bikes to Hilltop Park. Jobst said another neighbor told her they then briefly stopped by the neighbor’s house East of their Burns Road home.
Jobst and her sons live off a private drive connecting to the busy 25 mph street, and she said she’s worked closely with Tide on bike safety.
“We taught him how to cross, where to ride and he did it every day,” she said.
Police said the boys were riding facing traffic Saturday when an eastbound SUV tried to drive around them. Investigators believe the children changed direction and collided with the vehicle.
Jobst believes the boys tried to avoid the oncoming car by cutting across to the private drive.
Tide was pronounced dead at the scene, and Aiden was flown to UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland with critical injuries.
“Even though I didn’t want it to be true, I knew,” Jobst said of her son. “I knew before they moved him that that was my last time seeing him.”
The crash is under investigation, and no charges have been filed against the driver.
“Drugs and alcohol have been ruled out. Speed is something we’re definitely looking into, along with other aspects or contributing factors to what caused the crash,” said Elyria Police Capt. James Welsh.
The patrol commander said there have not been many crashes or traffic complaints along Burns Road.
Over the weekend, neighbors told News 5 they’ve worried about safety on the street for years, pointing to speeders, blind spots and narrow shoulders.
RELATED: 9-year-old killed, 10-year-old injured by car in Elyria
The road connects Gulf Road with Abbe Road near Lorain County Community College on Elyria’s Northeast side. Though the neighborhood is strictly residential with a public park, neighbors said it’s become a popular route for non-residential traffic.
Jobst suggested speed tables, sidewalks, additional signage or other means to alert drivers about children playing in the neighborhood.
“They’re children. Let them be kids. It is a dangerous road and they need to do something,” she said.
Police said the Elyria Traffic Unit has been monitoring the area since the accident and plans to deter speeders proactively.
"We can't change the past, but starting today we can hope for a better tomorrow," Welsh said.
Jobst is planning a vigil for Tide on Saturday afternoon at Hilltop Park. She said the family wants to honor the 9-year-old’s memory while raising awareness about safety on the road.
“I want my child’s tragedy to save another life because that was a sweet little boy that had a lot of life to live and a lot of love to give,” she said.
The family of Tide Bartlett shared an online fundraiser created to offset the costs of his funeral services and support the family. You can find more information by CLICKING HERE.
