The father of a five-year-old boy shared the last picture of his son, who police said was killed by a driver they were pursuing. The family opened up about their loss to NBC 6, and even told us about the boy's final moments they said saved other family members.
"I've got four kids and for them to tell me I only have three, it just ain't right," said Corye Readon, victim's father.
Readon is trying to come to terms with such a sudden and tremendous loss.
"I just really wish I could see what he was going to turn out to be, you know, because he touched a lot of people," Readon said.
Jayden, or JC as his family called him, was visiting his great-grandparents in Palm Beach County on Saturday. He was walking on the sidewalk to the park when a driver swerved off the road and killed him.
The driver behind the wheel was 20-year-old Lex Eugene. Recently released from prison, and running from police, Eugene was driving without a license.
"It just ain't right. I gotta live with that for the rest of my life. I'll just feel like I'll never be right going through this," Readon said.
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Both of JC's brothers were there and saw what happened. His older brother, still wearing the same clothes from Saturday, refuses to change.
"I'm trying to hold myself up and at the same time, I'm trying to figure out a way to build on him, because I don't want my honor student going left," Readon expressed.
His young brother was standing in JC's spot, just seconds before the crash.
"But he switched hands with his baby brother ... at the last second. That's what I was told," said the victim's grandfather, Henry Readon.
Now, there's an empty spot where JC used to sit with his grandfather and brothers and sister on the couch. They're now surrounding themselves with the child's artwork, a boy who wanted to be an engineer.
Remarkably, the family has no angry words to the driver responsible.
"I don't have no words for him," the boy's father said. "I just know it wouldn't do me any good. Me being angry, me trying to cry, me trying to support my wife and other kids. It's just something I guess God took out of me not to be."
Eugene fled the scene after the crash, but police caught up with him a short time later. He's facing a slew of charges including vehicular homicide.
The family's holding a candlelight vigil at the scene of the crash on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
