EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — The parents of a 17-year-old boy, who was struck and killed on Interstate 70 Sunday night, say they’ve learned that the driver who hit their son had been drinking and was impaired.
Gabriel Mills died in the I-70 crash near Crysler Road.
Mills, 17, and his girlfriend were on their way to meet his parents at a drive-in movie Sunday night when his mother says the teen’s life was cut all too short.
Independence police say the two teens were involved in a minor collision with another car on the interstate. Mills stopped, and he and his girlfriend got out of their car to check on the other driver. That’s when police say a third vehicle on the highway struck the couple, killed the Excelsior Springs high school student and injured his girlfriend.
“I wish we would have told him and reiterated to him more that when there’s an accident, that you have to stay in the car until the police get there,” said Stephanie Mills, the boy’s mother. “You have to stay in the car. Your number one priority is to worry about yourself. Not what’s going on on the freeway. I didn’t do that enough to him.”
Stephanie Mills says she’s not surprised that her son was worried more about others than his own safety. He worked as a lifeguard at Oceans of Fun, and was planning to join the Missouri National Guard because he liked the idea of protecting people.
Police have told Mills’ parents that their investigation indicates the driver who hit their son had been drinking and should not have been behind the wheel. Police arrested a man and are waiting on lab test results before the Jackson County prosecutor reviews the case.