Fort Myers HS mourns death of student hit by car at bus stop

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A 16-year-old has died after being struck by a car while trying to board his school bus near the corner of Pine Ridge Road and Bombay Lane, his family said.

Cameron Mayhew family said he died Thursday before 2 p.m. He was taken to the Lee Memorial Hospital in critical condition Wednesday morning around 6 a.m.

His bus was stopped and had extended its stop sign when a 2003 Chrysler, driven by 23-year-old Zackery Treinin of Cape Coral, hit the student, an FHP report said.

Neither Treinin nor anyone aboard the school bus was injured, according to FHP. Treinin is facing charges for failing to stop for a school bus, FHP said.

Mayhew had designated on his learner’s permit that he wanted to be an organ donor, and his family will honor that wish. The family will be holding a Gift of Life ceremony Friday at 2 p.m. at Lee Memorial Hospital. They said they are appreciative to the community for its support, according to a family representative.

“His family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to everyone in the community, especially the staff and students of Fort Myers High School, for their thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time,” the representative said.

Schoolmates described Mayhew as magnanimous and someone who put others above himself.

“He was the quietest, nicest guy around,” friend Chase Desiderio said. “He was selfless and only talked about other people.”

The death was particularly tragic given what he had the capacity to achieve, Desiderio believes.

“I feel like I’ve lost a really good friend of mine and … the fact that of all people, that he would go through this, is astonishing to me,” Desiderio said, “considering that he was a straight-A student, really bright and nice guy, with bright future, and yet something this horrible would happen to him.”