Thursday morning 12-year-old Adam Kempf, a seventh-grade student at Coats-ErwinMiddle School, in HarnettCounty died when he was hit by a van. Kempf was trying to board a school bus that was stopped with its stop arm out near Coats. The accident happened at 6:55 A.M. along N.C. Highway 27 near Bill Avery Road.
Kempf was taken to BetsyJohnsonHospital in Dunn, where he later passed away. According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Fernando Ortiz-Soto of SanfordN.C. was driving the van that hit Kempf and that Ortiz-Soto swerved to avoid hitting the child.
Ortiz-Soto was charged with death by motor vehicle and driving without a license. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, according to authorities alcohol and speed were not factors.
Sharon Kempf, the boy’s mother said he was a mature child who excelled in school and loved to read.
