‘How can someone do that?’: Valley Station family speaks out after teen struck in hit-and-run, left in road

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A Valley Station family is speaking out after their 18-year-old son was struck by a hit-and-run driver on his way home from work, left in the road, and had his bike and phone stolen in the aftermath.

Kingston Maestas graduated from Valley High School in May. He played four years of football there, got a job at 7 Brew toward the end of his senior year, and had been working there ever since — saving money and riding a pocket bike around the neighborhood with friends in his spare time.

On Friday night, Kingston left work around 11:30 p.m. He was riding that bike home. He never made it.

Sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight Friday, a vehicle struck Kingston as he crossed through the intersection of Dixie Highway and Valley Station Road, in front of Valley High School. The driver did not stop.

Witnesses at the scene stayed with Kingston until emergency medical services arrived. Security cameras from nearby businesses captured the moment of impact, and Louisville Metro Police have obtained that footage. Investigators say they have developed a vehicle description and the case has been turned over to detectives, who are continuing to gather evidence.

Kingston’s father, David Magalogo, said the location of the accident may have made all the difference.

“It could have happened on a side road, on an alley somewhere where no witnesses — much different outcome,” Magalogo said. “But it happened right here. Luckily there was witnesses.”

Still, the driver’s decision to leave has been one of the hardest parts for the family to process.

“The person who hit him felt the need to leave and not stop and check on him,” Magalogo said. “That’s one of the hardest — even he was asking, ‘How can someone do that?’”

Kingston’s family did not learn about the crash right away. The teen sometimes stayed out late or spent the night at a friend’s house, so when he didn’t come home, they waited.

His mother was up at 4 a.m. Saturday, driving the neighborhood looking for him. She found no sign of Kingston, his bike, or his phone.

By Saturday morning, Kingston had missed plans to help a friend mow lawns, then his sister’s birthday party, then his scheduled shift at 7 Brew. His family — his mother, his father, and his brother — had all been calling and texting with no response, until someone answered his phone with a text: “Can’t talk right now.”

“When we got that text back saying ‘Can’t talk right now’ — after knowing all the obligations he had lined up that morning — we’re like, no. Something is off,” Magalogo said.

The family called back. This time, a different person answered and said they had found the phone near the crash site on Valley Station Road. Magalogo drove straight there.

Friends searching the area found Kingston’s shoes beneath a post at the side of the road. Nearby lay the remnants of the crash. It was the confirmation the family had feared.

“We just started calling ERs,” Magalogo said. “Without any ID, with HIPAA laws and all that, it was hard to get through to any of them.”

They eventually found him at a downtown trauma center, where he had been admitted without identification.

Kingston arrived at the trauma center in critical condition. He had suffered a collapsed lung, a ruptured artery, internal bleeding in his spleen, a broken nose, and road rash across his body.

This week, his father says Kingston has been making significant progress. He is up and walking — a recovery Magalogo calls nothing short of a miracle.

“By the grace of God, he’s awake,” Magalogo said. “He had — definitely angels watching over him.”

Magalogo says his son has always been resilient. Kingston tore his ACL during his time playing football at Valley High and fought his way back from that injury to finish his career.

“Most kids, you get an injury like that, and you’re done,” Magalogo said. “He bounced back and came back strong. He’s always been a fighter.”

The crash left more than injuries behind. After officers moved Kingston’s pocket bike to the side of the road and placed a tow order on it, someone took the bike before it could be retrieved. His cell phone, found near the scene, was also taken.

The family is asking anyone who has the bike, the phone, or any information about the crash or the driver to contact Louisville Metro Police.

Magalogo has lived in the Valley Station community for eight years. His family moved there from a small town in Wyoming, and it is the only community his children have known. He drives through the intersection of Dixie Highway and Valley Station Road regularly — and says it now carries a weight it didn’t carry before Friday night.

Despite everything, Magalogo says he has found a way to forgive the driver who left his son in the road.

“As hard as it is to say — I forgive them for that,” he said. “My son might not. My family might not. The community. But for me, for now — I can’t hold that. Because if I hold that, it’ll ruin me.”

He also has a broader message for Louisville, reflecting on the kindness he says the community has shown his family since the incident.

“Everything we do — all the way down to the way we drive, to the way we interact with each other and treat each other — it’s all relevant,” Magalogo said.

A GoFundMe has been created on behalf of the family to help cover Kingston’s medical costs.

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