VALDOSTA – The driver of a Dodge Charger in connection to the hit and run fatality of a 16-year-old male is in talks with the VPD.

Release:

Victim: Samuel Johnson, Jr., 16 years of age, Valdosta resident.

On Saturday, December 9, 2023, at approximately 6:15 pm., a 16-year-old male, Samuel Johnson, Jr., was walking in the 3900 block of Inner Perimeter Road. Johnson saw a dog that had been hit by an unknown vehicle, so he went to assist the injured dog. While trying to rescue the injured dog, Johnson was struck and killed by second vehicle traveling through the area. The vehicle that struck Johnson did not stop.

On Monday, December 11, 2023, shortly after releasing the information on the dark in color Dodge Charger, year model 2011-2014, the driver of that vehicle came to the police department to talk to officers. With his cooperation, officers and detectives located the vehicle at his residence. The vehicle was seized and taken to the Valdosta Lowndes Regional Crime Laboratory for processing. The driver of the vehicle has been identified and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

The Valdosta Police Department are awaiting laboratory results to determine if the Charger struck Johnson.

At this time no formal charges have been filed.

Traffic Officers are still looking at the evidence recovered from the scene and the vehicle, as well as interviewing witnesses.

The ongoing investigation is a collaborative effort between the Valdosta Police Department and the Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

We are asking anyone who was in the area when the accident, and saw anything, please contact the Valdosta Police Department.

If anyone has any information, please contact the Valdosta Police Department Bureau of Investigative
Services at 229-293-3145, the crime tip line at 229-293-3091, or file a tip online at www.valdostacity.com/police-department.