Mom distraught after teen son killed on busy road

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - An Orange County mother says she is heartbroken after her teenaged son was hit and killed here on John Young Parkway on Wednesday evening.  Baruska Angel says her boy, 14-year-old Michael Rodriguez, was a good son whose life was taken away much too soon.

"Michael quiet boy, real quiet typical kid," she said fighting back tears.  "He tried to cross the street and all the kids tried crossing the street when that happened."

Florida Highway Patrol troopers say the deadly incident happened along John Young Parkway near Oak Ridge Road at around 7:30 p.m.  According to troopers, Michael was hit by two different cars as he tried crossing the highway with the other teens.  "My daughter and my son, Michael ... she see it, she see everything, crying."

The cause is still under investigation, but troopers say it was extremely dark on the highway when the incident occurred.  Still, Baruska says her son was wearing light-colored clothes at the time.  "My son is almost six feet, you can see six feet.  His clothes are no dark, and I know the other kids didn't have dark clothes either."

She wants drivers to slow down and would like to see improvements made, to make it safer for people walking along this highway. "My son died for some reason.  I think they need to put a lot of lights in there; it's too dangerous. Those cars coming too fast, too much."

Troopers say the women who were driving the cars were questioned in the accident.  Baruska wishes they would have avoided hitting her son. "They don't say, 'I'm sorry,' they don't say nothing."    As she and Michael's father plan a funeral for their son, Baruska hopes to hear from investigators soon. "I need someone to tell me something."

The family plans to have a candlelight vigil in honor of Michael sometime this weekend.