Family of IU student killed in hit-and-run seeking justice

BLOOMINGTON — For the second time since the start of the semester, an Indiana University student has been killed while riding a scooter. It happened on 12th and Walnut streets Sunday.

According to friends close to the victim, 20-year-old IU Junior Nathaniel Stratton, he was on his way to get food early Sunday morning.

"This has destroyed our lives and obviously this isn't going to help her life very much but we want to see her fully prosecuted to the extent of the law,” Brad Stratton the victim's dad said with tears in his eye. "She has taken away our dream she took away our baby. "

Nathaniel’s family and friends say he was athletic, intelligent and an honor student with a bright future ahead of him.

"He was going to go study abroad in January,” Abby Stratton, Nate's sister said.

“He was going to go to Australia and study abroad. He was going to have an internship this summer he was going to graduate he was going to get a great job. "

Bloomington police say the woman responsible for hitting and killing Nate was drunk at the time of the crash. His dad says the detective on the case told him she was drinking at Kilroy’s on Kirkwood earlier Saturday night.

WRTV will not name her until formal charges are filed.

The crash report provided to WRTV by police says she was driving anywhere from 50-70 miles per hour when she hit Stratton. The report says witnesses in the area saw her swerve into the bike lane and hit him. She was also driving on the sidewalk.

It says she then continued driving for several blocks. The crash report goes on to say that once police found her, they asked how the damage to her vehicle happened.

Both she and her passenger said they didn’t know what happened.

The passenger claimed they couldn’t see what happened because they didn’t have their glasses on, but that they do remember being hit with glass. A BAC wasn’t provided in the report, but the driver was taken to the hospital where a blood draw for drugs and alcohol was taken.

"That's six or eight blocks dragging a scooter underneath her car with her windshield cracked after hitting a body,” Brad Stratton said. “I mean that's inexcusable as a person."

The family says they knew something was wrong when Nate didn’t report his glucose numbers. He is a type 1 diabetic, and he logs his glucose levels regularly.

When he didn’t do so for over three hours Sunday night, his mother knew something was wrong. Several family members began calling and Facetiming him. Eventually, a police officer on the scene answered his phone and told them he had been in an accident and that they needed to contact the emergency room.

When they did, they were hit with the devastating news that Nate was in unsurvivable condition. Medical professionals told them he was brain dead on impact.

They plan on holding a memorial for family and friends that knew him.

"There should have been generations more of friends that he would have but we'd like to give those who do remember him the chance to be together and have time," Abby Stratton said.

One of those friends is Cayden Nadolney. She and Nate went to high school together.

During breaks from college, they spent almost every day together. She says the woman responsible for this tragedy affected more the one life.

"I hope that she feels regret for the rest of her life, and knows that she took an amazing person from so many people," Nadolney said.