A 7-month-old boy is dead after he was hit by an SUV this afternoon as his father pushed him in a stroller along a road in Mifflin Township. According to Chief Deputy Jim Gilbert of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, the two were walking north on Westerville Road when they were hit by the SUV just before 5 p.m. The woman who was driving veered off the road, Gilbert said, hitting a mailbox, then the man and his son.

Police aren't sure why an SUV struck a manashe pushed his 7-month-old son in a stroller alongsideWesterville Road,killing the child.

"The infant is confirmed deceased,"Chief Deputy Jim Gilbert of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office said more than an hour after thecrash just before 5 p.m. Thursday in Mifflin Township.

Late Thursday night, the sheriff's office identified that baby as Micah Ferebee, and his father as Kenan M. Ferebee, 23, of the South Side.

Authorities said that Mr. Ferebee initially refused treatment himself and went with his child to Nationwide Children's Hospital, where the baby died a short time later. Since then, Mr. Ferebee has been taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he was in critical condition Thursday night.

Gilbert said they're still investigating to see whether something �alcohol, drugs, texting,distracted driving, illness – causedthewoman who was drivingthe SUV to go off the road.The sheriff's office said she is Muhuba A. Mohamed, 31, of Columbus, and that she wasn't hurt.

No charges had been filed as of Thursday night.

Kristin Dixonrushed to the crash site on Westerville Road, just north of Innis Road, after herbest friend called her frantic, saying she'd just witnessed the baby get hit.

"She saw the baby fly out of the stroller," saidDixon. "The baby's shoes flew off.

"She was on the phone with me. She was crying, hysterical."

Mohamed,deputies said, was driving north on Westerville Road when she veered off the right side of the road and struck a mailbox, then the father and stroller containing the child. She came to rest against a house on Westerville Road.

She was cooperating with police, Gilbert said, and was being interviewedat the scene. That portion of Westerville Road was closed for more than two hours as police investigated.

kperry@dispatch.com

@kimballperry