'I didn't even realize it was my son': Iowa man tries to help child fatally hit by car

When he reached the boy, Maxon made an awful discovery.

"I got out of my car, trying to call 911, but I couldn't get my fingers to work fast enough," Maxon, 35, told the Des Moines Register. "I didn't even realize it was my son until I got up to him."

Christian Maxon, 8, a second-grader at Franklin Elementary School in Marshalltown, was fatally struck May 15 as he crossed a street while walking home, the Register reported.

Christian Maxon was taken to a local hospital before he was taken to helicopter Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, where he was pronounced dead, the newspaper reported.

Marilyn Diggins, 71, was the driver of the car. According to the Register, police are still conducting an investigation, and a decision on charges will be made after the probe is complete, Marshalltown police Lt. Rick Bellile said Saturday.

According to his obituary, Christian Maxon enjoyed participating in the Cub Scouts, playing video games and racing pinewood derby cars. He also enjoyed wrestling, monster cars and helping with cooking.

Christian Maxon’s parents are still trying to comprehend what happened.

Brittany Maxon, 32, who is separated from her husband, was working from home when she got a call there had been an accident, the Register reported. She accompanied her son on the helicopter flight to Des Moines, and while initially there was optimism, Christian Maxon could not overcome the head trauma and his heart stopped several times.

"When they … put him on the Life Flight, they're like, 'We're moving him, but we are not really hopeful that we're gonna be able to keep his heart going,'" Brittany Maxon told the Register.

Doctors pronounced the boy dead shortly after the helicopter landed at the Des Moines hospital.

"They had to call it," because they had applying CPR for so long, Brittany Maxon told the Register. "At that point, he wasn't coming back."

“It’s been a very tough and trialsome week," Timothy Maxon told the newspaper. “Just devastation.”

Both parents said they have been unable to sleep, and Timothy Maxon said the image of his son being hit by the car has not faded.

"I do still see it from time to time," he told the Register. "Mostly while trying to sleep.

"There was not one bad thing about that kid, not one bad thing," Timothy Maxon told the Register. "Had the smile of an angel, his eyes were just unbelievable. The most adorable, loving, caring gentleman I've ever met in my life."