Westminster – The little boy grinning out from the school photograph has a mop of red hair, a constellation of freckles across his nose, and a smile that is missing a tooth or two.
Quinton Von Duyke was always smiling, his family said.
“He made friends wherever he went,” his cousin Pam Anderson said Sunday, reading from a family statement.
Quinton, 8, died Saturday evening when a vehicle hit the go-cart Quinton and his older brother were driving on a neighborhood street. The vehicle sped away, and Westminster police have few leads to track it.
So on Sunday, Quinton’s family pleaded for anyone with information to step forward and ease their grief, just a little.
“His life was cut short by a coward,” Anderson, who is the Jefferson County clerk and recorder, read from the statement. “The grief we feel cannot be put into words. … This world was a better place with Quinton in it.”
The accident happened about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Quinton and his 10- year-old brother, Kaeden, were riding a red and yellow two-seater go-cart, built with the help of their grandfather, around their grandparents’ neighborhood near West 96th Avenue and Pierce Street. The boys were staying with their grandparents while their parents were out of town.
Police believe the vehicle hit the go-cart from behind while both were heading west on 96th Avenue.
“Whoever it was, they hit the go-cart and they left,” Westminster police spokeswoman Stephanie Topkoff said. “They didn’t bother to call for help. They didn’t bother to stop and help these two boys.”
Topkoff said passers-by found a dazed Kaeden walking around after the accident. Quinton, she said, was unconscious in the go-cart. The passers-by tried to save him but could not.
Topkoff said the boys were not wearing helmets because of the heat. Quinton was wearing a seat belt, but Kaeden, who was driving, was not. He was thrown from the go-cart.
Kaeden was released from The Children’s Hospital on Sunday, after being treated for scrapes and bruises.
“It’s really so sad,” said Jim Marinace, who lives about a block from the accident scene. “The grandfather, I know he has to be tortured by this.”
Topkoff said investigators haven’t found any witnesses to the accident or anybody who can provide a description of the vehicle that hit the boys. She said the vehicle probably has some front-end damage and may have some of the go-cart’s paint on it.
Some neighbors said they had seen the boys zipping through the neighborhood on the go-cart – even running stop signs – earlier in the week. Topkoff said it is against the law in Westminster to drive a go-cart on the street.
But she said police aren’t blaming the boys for the accident. Instead, she said, investigators are focusing on finding who hit them.
“Somebody out there knows something,” Topkoff said. “We need these people to come forward.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
