POINT PLEASANT — A 10-year old boy was killed on Sunday afternoon after being hit by a pickup truck on Sandhill Road.

Earnest “Trey” McCarty, 10, Ashton, died from injuries he sustained in the crash, according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Department which is investigating the incident. The accident reportedly occurred in the vicinity of the Mid-Ohio Valley Center and Meadowbrook Addition along Sandhill Rd.

According to the sheriff’s department, a Chevrolet pickup driven by James Richardson of Point Pleasant, struck the boy after McCarty ran into the roadway. McCarty was treated at the scene by personnel with Mason County EMS and transported to Pleasant Valley Hospital where he later died. The accident remains under investigation by Lt. S. Greene and Cpl. F. Terry of the sheriff’s department. There have been no charges filed against Richardson.

McCarty was a fifth grader at Ashton Elementary School, a school of around 400 students in a community where everyone knows their neighbor. Alesia Green, principal of Ashton Elementary, said on Monday morning, school staff came together for a meeting before students arrived to determine how to help their kids deal with the death of a peer. Green said in addition to the school’s counselor, additional, county counselors were brought to campus. Staff were told if they felt any student needed to see a counselor, “by all means” they were to have accessibility to one.

Also on Monday morning, Green and her staff met with all the fifth grade students to explain what happened, there were some students who hadn’t heard. Green said the meeting gave McCarty’s peers a forum to talk and ask questions.

Green said some students were creating memorial pages to go in a book and students participated in a balloon launch where they wrote messages to McCarty attached to the balloon. She said McCarty’s birthday is Nov. 14 and one student commented they were sending him a balloon for his birthday.

Green said as for what happens next at the school, they are playing it by ear to determine how to meet the needs of the students as they come to an understanding of what happened.

As for McCarty, Green described him as a “wonderful child” who also has two brothers who attend Ashton Elementary and a family who is very involved at the school. She said staff will be working with students on what to say to McCarty’s brothers when they return and how to be supportive.

On a more personal note, Green said McCarty had an “infectious smile and laugh.” This past weekend was Heritage Day at Ashton Elementary and Green said the last sight she saw as she was leaving that day was McCarty playing football with friends outside the school, smiling.

McCarty’s funeral arrangements appear inside this edition.