Macon teen killed by pickup truck while meeting school bus

<p>MACON, Ga. _ A Bibb County teenager was struck and killed by a pickup truck while crossing the road to meet a school bus Wednesday morning, authorities said.</p><p>Van Wheeler Jr., 15, a Northeast Magnet School student, was hit by a 2003 Chevy S-10 pickup about 6:35 a.m., Capt. David Davis of the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.</p><p>School bus driver Mekisha Watts, 25, of Macon told authorities she had stopped on the eastbound side of the road waiting to pick up Wheeler. Jones said Watts blew her horn in an attempt to warn Wheeler, who was crossing the road to meet the bus, but it was too late. Jones said Watts was being treated for shock.</p><p>Bibb County coroner Leon Jones pronounced Wheeler dead at the scene. An autopsy was scheduled later Wednesday.</p><p>Nearly a year ago, Wheeler had witnessed the murder of his father, Van "Pap" Wheeler Sr. Two armed men entered the family's house shortly before 11 p.m on Sept. 29, 2005. The elder Wheeler and his son were placed in the same room, and the father was shot and killed during a scuffle.</p><p>The younger Wheeler was the second Bibb County student in a little more than a week to be killed on the road while awaiting a school bus.</p><p>Darrius Johnson, 9, a student at Burdell-Hunt Elementary School, was killed after being struck by a car on Clinton Road on the morning of Sept. 19. Johnson had reportedly run in front of an SUV traveling down the road.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cda23c)</p>