He lived with a drug addiction. But he was killed by a hit-and-run driver still at large

Farrious Johnson pulled out a picture frame of her 57-year-old son - his Polytechnic High School graduation photo taken more than 35 years ago.

Alvin Ray Johnson had a determined look that day, hardly suggesting that his life would spiral into drug addiction and a tragic death.

He died early Monday when a hit-and-run driver ran over and killed him.

Officials with the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office released his name Tuesday.

“We really don’t know how it happened,” his mother said from her Fort Worth home. “My niece took me up there after it happened, but there wasn’t anything there.”

Ray Johnson died when his chest was crushed after being run over by a vehicle early Monday at a convenience store driveway in the 1500 block of East Berry Street, according to a medical examiner’s report. An official ruling on his death is pending.

“I’m still just trying to gather information on how it all happened,” his brother Carl Johnson said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

Police continued their search for the hit-and-run driver.

Farrious Johnson apologized for not having any recent photos of her son Ray, but she said he only came by her home once in awhile.

Ray Johnson had spent his last 50 years in Fort Worth, struggling with drug addiction for most of that time, his mother said.

He sometimes lived on the street, worked at odd jobs in the city and rode a bicycle up and down East Berry Street near Riverside Drive.

“I would put some food for him back there, and he would sometimes come by and get it,” his mother said, pointing to the back of her home. “It’s been those drugs. He’d come by and ask for a dollar or two, and I knew it was just for drugs.”

But Farrious Johnson said her son was really “no problem.” He had arrests for drug possession, driving while intoxicated, burglary and theft, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.

He recently had been working at a body shop.

“He always hung out with his friends at that corner of Riverside Drive and East Berry Street,” his mother said.

The hit-and-run happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. Monday. Police said a man was driving his vehicle on East Berry Street when he ran over Johnson in the street. He then drove away.

Detectives say they believe the motorist was driving a black Jeep or minivan.

“I just can’t believe someone would hit a person with a car, and not stop,” Farrious Johnson said. “How does that happen?”

Anyone with information should call police at 817-392-4867.

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 5:24 PM with the headline "He lived with a drug addiction. But he was killed by a hit-and-run driver still at large."