Ga. fire captain heading to work stops to help hit-and-run victim lying in road

By Irene Wright
The Charlotte Observer

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A man was saved after a hit-and-run when an off-duty firefighter saw someone lying in the road and stopped, Georgia police and news outlets say.

At around 5:45 a.m. on Feb. 10, 21-year-old Bryson Moore was walking to his job at Publix, according to a GoFundMe created by his family. When he was crossing an intersection, he was hit by a vehicle.

The vehicle didn’t stop, and instead left Moore lying in the road, WSB-TV reported.

Then, Gwinnett County Fire Department Captain Chris Bilik saw him on his way to work.

“Normally, I don’t go to work that early,” Bilik told WSB-TV. “I positioned my vehicle in a way to stop traffic from being able to hit him. And after that, I got out and called 911.”

Soon after, another firefighter, Kevin Chandler, pulled up to the fire captain, and the two helped Moore until emergency services could arrive, according to 11Alive reporter Kaitlyn Ross.

Officers who arrived at the intersection found the firefighters attending to Moore.

An officer said he asked Moore “if he could tell me what happened, and he said that he wasn’t sure.” The officer then asked Moore if he thought he was hit by a car, and Moore responded that he didn’t think so, according to a Braselton Police Department report.

Officers said they could tell he had been hit because the vehicle had left behind debris close to where Moore was found.

Moore was transported to a hospital. Police said they checked the surrounding businesses to see if there were any cameras that caught footage of the crash, but they haven’t been able to find anything that could help identify the vehicle or driver.

Moore’s family took to social media to share what happened to him.

His family also put up signs at the intersection asking for help from the community in finding the driver who hit Moore, Facebook posts from his aunt show.

“Looking for the driver of a pedestrian hit and run at this intersection,” the sign said.

Moore’s aunt posted a TikTok video of Moore that said he was saving up to fix his car, and that was why he was walking to work. She said in a GoFundMe she created for him that his family offered to pay for Uber rides, but Moore said he didn’t mind walking.

Moore’s aunt said he’s “just an old soul, a really good human and a responsible kid that did not deserve this.”

Police are still looking for the driver of the car, but Moore has been able to come home while he continues recovering , according to his family.

His aunt posted on Facebook thanking the firefighters who helped save him.

“On my family’s behalf and mine, I would like to express our gratitude to the men who saved my nephew’s life yesterday,” she wrote. “We don’t think Bryson Moore would still be here without these men.”

Braselton is 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.

©2023 The Charlotte Observer.
Visit charlotteobserver.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.