|Updated : 6 hours ago

BOONE COUNTY, Ky. (WXIX) - A child is in critical condition after the Boone County Sheriff’s Office says he wandered away from his home in Florence early Sunday morning and was hit by a car.

Deputies say a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix was headed west on the Weaver Road overpass over I-75 when the 4-year-old was hit around 1 a.m.

As she was driving she hit the child who had walked onto from the right shoulder onto the roadway, Lt. Chris Hall said.

Lt. Hall says the investigation revealed that the driver was on the overpass when she noticed a vehicle had stopped in the eastbound lanes and was flashing its headlights at her, prompting the driver to slow down to approximately 30 mph (the posted speed limit is 55).

The vehicle that had stopped - a good Samaritan -had just passed through the area and saw the child standing on the road unsupervised, Hall said.

He says the good Samaritan turned around to stop traffic and make contact with the 4-year-old when he was hit.

The sheriff’s office says the driver did not notice the child walk onto the road because it was nighttime and the road was not lit.

Lt. Hall says the driver did stay at the scene.

The sheriff’s office says an investigation later determined that the 4-year-old had left his home at a nearby apartment complex on Mission Lane after his family had gone to sleep for the night.

The child’s name is not being released at this time, Lt. Hall said.

Lifesaving measures were attempted by deputies and the Florence Fire Department.

The child was flown to Children’s Hospital with life-threating injuries, according to Lt. Hall.

The Boone County accident reconstruction unit is investigating the collision.

Lt. Hall says speed and alcohol/impairment were not determined to be factors.

No charges have been filed at this time but the driver who hit the child and his parents are cooperating with the investigation, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said.

Florence Police are handling the investigation and circumstances at the child’s house and how he was able to leave before the collision.

The road was closed for about two hours during the investigation.