Nine-year Old Hit-and-run Victim Ryan White Battling For Life

Ryan White, a 9-year-old tourist from Yardley, Philadelphia, who became the victim of a hit-and-run incident in downtown San Francisco after watching a baseball game, was battling for his life on Friday night at San Francisco General Hospital.

During the summer vacation, Ryan traveled to California to watch the game series between the Phillies and the San Francisco Giants with his family, including his parents Ken, 51, and Roseanne, 50, brother Kevin, 11, cousin and 58-year-old aunt.

When they were walking back to hotel after watching their beloved Phillies beat the Giants at AT&T Park on Thursday night, Ryan and his aunt were struck by a passing 2004 Toyota Tundra pickup truck at the intersection of Mission Street and New Montgomery Street.

"We were crossing with the light," Ryan's father told KRON-TV early Friday. "A car came screeching out of the street, hit one car, careened over into the second car, and that was where my son was."

Ryan was sent to a hospital and was being treated for life-threatening injuries. Ryan's aunt suffered a non-life-threatening foot injury.

According to Rachael Kagan, local hospital spokeswoman, Ryan was in critical condition on Friday night.

"I wanted my son to be all right. That was all I really cared about," Ryan's father said.

The errant driver Andrew Alan Vargas, a 21-year-old Cal State East Bay graduate, didn't stop and continued to drive after the accident, according to police. However he was caught by the police and detained in Hayward police at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

Vargas's blood-alcohol level was measured at over 0.08 percent, which confirmed that the driver was drunk. Vargas, however, has a clean driving record, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Vargas had just graduated from Cal State East Bay in Hayward in June, planning to take graduate courses this fall. He also worked as campus president of the Model United Nations Club to collect donations for tsunami victims in Japan.

Vargas has been accused of felony hit-and-run, driving under the influence (DUI), and driving with an open container. On Friday, he was held at San Francisco County Jail. Now he is under a psychiatric observation. Bail was set at $64,100.

The Whites are lifelong Phillies fans, relatives said.

Kevin Kall, a neighbor of the White family, described Ryan "very outgoing, very respectful, very energetic." Ryan and Kevin "are great kids, always out playing ball, always wearing their Phillies gear. They're not the type of kids that hunker down inside playing video games," he said.

"It's just a horrible incident," the Giant's spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said. "On behalf of the Giants and the Phillies, our thoughts are with Ryan and his family right now."

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