INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — An investigation by WPTV has revealed that charges have been filed against a student in Indian River County related to the hit-and-run death of a 15-year-old girl.
It's been about a year since Haylee Hughes was killed on April 12, 2024.
WATCH BELOW: Teen charged with misdemeanor in student's fatal hit-and-run
The State Attorney's Office told WPTV they now have enough evidence to prove Hughes' classmate left the scene of the crash, but they do not have evidence to prove he knew he hit a person.
Hughes' mom, Jericho Freeman, told us this is a step toward justice, but it still falls short.
In the face of heartbreak, Freeman reflected on the fragility of life, reminding us that, like flowers, we're here just for a season.
"It still surprises me sometimes, coming in here, and she's not here," Freeman said while sitting in Hughes' bedroom.
Yet as new flowers and new life grow between the trinkets placed on the teen's memorial, Hughes' grieving mother knows the pain caused by her daughter's death will never wither away.
"Especially with her birthday passing, she would have been 16, and knowing that all this past year I would have been teaching her to drive," Freeman told WPTV through tears.
The Florida Highway Patrol said in their investigation that the driver of a truck swerved into Hughes, a Sebastian River High School student, hitting her in the Vero Lake Estates neighborhood.
The girl was flown to the hospital, where medical records show doctors declared her brain dead.
Her mom made the heart-wrenching decision to take the 15-year-old off life support 10 days after the crash.
"My daughter was such an amazing person, and she had such the biggest personality, the biggest personality," Freeman said. "She was gonna grow up and do so many fun and amazing things. She was gonna travel. There's just that huge loss.
FHP identified the driver as Hughes' classmate, who WPTV is not naming because he's a minor.
The FHP crash report concluded he drove in a "careless or negligent manner." The FHP traffic homicide investigation also showed he left the scene.
LISTEN BELOW: 911 call in fatal hit and run of Haylee Hughes
Below is also a transcription from the only 911 call related to the crash:
Dispatcher: "911, what's the address of your emergency?"
Driver's Father: "I was just driving. There's a young lady by a construction site. I think she was hit by a car."
In the 911 call, the teen driver's father told dispatchers his son thought he had hit a white mailbox and then came back home before continuing to school. Dispatch records WPTV obtained showed this occurred while Hughes was still on the ground, unconscious.
Dispatcher: "You don't see any vehicles around or any...?"
Driver's Father: "No—well, I—I know what happened. I just got a call from my son; he was on his way to school on 79th Street. He's like, 'Dad, I think I hit a mailbox, I don't understand," replied the teen driver's father.
Dispatcher: "OK, so you're saying your son probably hit a person??"
Driver's Father: "Yeah, that’s what I'm saying!"
Dispatcher: "OK, that's ... well, you said you weren't 100% sure, so I wanted to make sure..."
Driver's Father: "No, no, no, I'm 100% sure."
Dispatcher: "Where is your son?"
Driver's Father: "I—he came to my house, he showed me where the mailbox was, and he was like, it's a plastic one on the side of the road, a white one. I'm like, OK, so I sent him back to school."
Cellphone records show the father called 911 about 14 minutes after FHP said his son hit Hughes.
WPTV spoke with neurologist Dr. Brent Masel, the National Medical Director for the Brain Association of America, when our first investigative story on the case aired in October.
"Would getting her treatment earlier potentially have made a difference in her chance of survival?" Hussey asked Masel in October.
"Yes, the delay undoubtedly made things a whole lot worse," replied Masel.
Yet six months after the crash, as our previous investigation showed, prosecutors filed no criminal charges in Hughes' death, writing in a disposition letter that the "facts of the case don't establish the defendant was aware of the victim's injuries when the defendant left the scene of the accident."
In the letter, prosecutors added that "if more evidence is uncovered," they'd take another look at the case.
"My baby was dying. Right there in front of him," sobbed Freeman.
After WPTV's report aired, Freeman said investigators came to collect both the clothing Hughes was wearing at the time of the crash and the medical records investigative reporter Kate Hussey obtained to prove the length of time she waited for help.
"The State Attorney's office brought in extra help, forensic help, to do the forensic reconstruction," Freeman said.
An updated traffic homicide investigation, dated March 26, 2025, includes a far more detailed timeline of the accident.
The next day, on March 27, a release that WPTV obtained showed the State Attorney's office charged the driver with leaving the scene of an accident.
It's a misdemeanor, and Freeman hoped for more serious charges.
"Devastating, soul-crushing, because from the 911 call, and from the series of events, it very much sounds like someone who never had to take accountability for their actions, calling up dad to fix another mistake they made," Freeman said.
The State Attorney's office declined an on-camera interview because it is an active case. But in a statement, prosecutor Bill Long told WPTV, "We evaluated for every theory of prosecution and went with what we felt we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt."
"Not only no (real) justice for her death, but no accountability for it," countered Freeman. "My heart is forever going to be broken — forever. It's just sadness ... and loss, and really not even anger. Because what's the point?"
Freeman may never get the accountability she wanted and may never truly heal.
But on her daughter's phone, Freeman finds a seed of hope by reading a quote that the teen saved the day before she died.
"From my rotting body flowers shall grow. I am them, and that is eternity," Freeman read the quote. "I think it's a sign that to say that even though she's not here, she wants beautiful things to happen."
As new life begins, Freeman grows her own new promise.
"It's time to try to do what I can in the community to make sure nobody else feels like this. Make sure flowers bloom. That kids get a chance to grow," Freeman said.
Because Freeman's own daughter’s chance at life was cut far too short.
"Way too short. She was just getting started," Freeman said.
WPTV reached out to the teen driver's father and his attorney for comment multiple times. We were told we'd be given a statement, but we still have not heard back more than two weeks later.
Fereeman is now determined to make safety changes.
FHP's crash report stated that the only street light in the area of the crash was not working at the time of the wreck. She wants to make sure that doesn't happen again, along with making other improvements to sidewalks and other infrastructure.
