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In a tragic turn of events on Friday night in Ybor City, two brothers, Connor and Brandon Dietrich, along with their close friend Riley Hancock, found themselves injured in a devastating crash that claimed four lives and left several others hurt.
Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Connor and Brandon Dietrich are known as survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting nearly six years ago. The brothers were spending the evening in Ybor City with Riley Hancock when the accident occurred. The trio was seated outside at Bradley’s on 7th when the vehicle struck.
Brandon Dietrich was the only one among the three who avoided severe injuries. Initially trapped against a glass wall by the impact of the car, he managed to free himself. Once free, he immediately attended to his brother and friend.
“Brandon found Connor lying in a pool of blood. At first, he didn’t recognize Riley due to a severe forehead laceration but soon realized who it was,” recounted their father, Bob. “Brandon instinctively jumped into action to help them both.”
“He finds Connor lying in a puddle of blood; he finds what he didn’t realize was Riley at first, but he saw somebody with a severe laceration on their forehead and then realized that’s Riley,” their dad, Bob, said. “He just kind of jumped into action.”
A response Bob said was honed when the brothers were both in class during the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland.
“He’s never opened up to us about that, and I was afraid we were going to have the same kind of an issue with this,” he said. “But surprisingly, you can see it in his eyes, he’s struggling, but he’s talking, which is, that’s the most important thing he can do, so he’s doing remarkably well.”
Connor, a USF graduate, is still hospitalized at St. Joseph’s with severe injuries.
“He’s got several skull fractures on the left side of his head,” Bob said. “He’s got a broken shoulder, clavicle, a lacerated spleen.”
He said they are waiting on MRI results to find out how his brain was affected by the crash.
“We just don’t know; I don’t know if I’m going to have my son back,” he said.
As for the driver accused of causing the crash, more felony charges were filed against him on Tuesday. Court records also show his next appearance is on Thursday.
There’s a GoFundMe for Connor’s medical bills and another GoFundMe for Riley Hancock’s medical bills.