BATON ROUGE — Just hours after celebrating a hard-won milestone, 29-year-old Andrew McMullen was gone.
On Friday night, Dec. 26th, just after 10 p.m., McMullen was riding his electric scooter near the RaceTrac gas station on Perkins Road and Staring Lane when a car hit him, Baton Rouge Police said. He suffered severe brain trauma and died at the hospital around 11:30 p.m. His father, Michael McMullen, and Andrew’s oldest brother, Jacob, were at his bedside when he passed.
“I want to know why my son is dead,” he said quietly.
A life finally turning a corner
For the McMullen family, the loss is especially painful because Andrew’s life was finally turning a corner.
Andrew had been living at the Alberta House sober living home, just behind the RaceTrac. He was four months sober — a stretch his father described as the healthiest and happiest Andrew had been in years. He had recently gotten a job at the Dollar Tree on Staring Lane, walking across two parking lots to get there because he didn’t have a car.
“His boss told me he was her hardest worker,” McMullen said.
That Friday, McMullen shared news that filled his family with pride: he had caught up on all of his rent.
“He was so proud,” his father said. “He was finally in a good place mentally, physically, financially and spiritually.”
A sober Christmas and a family’s pride
Just days earlier, McMullen had spent Christmas sober with his entire family — a moment his father says they will hold onto forever.
“I spent almost all day with him on Christmas,” McMullen said. “Really good day. We smiled. He was just in the best place in life that he’s been since he became an adult.”
For a family that had weathered years of addiction and uncertainty, that Christmas felt like hope fulfilled.
Cowboy Boots and a scooter that symbolized independence
McMullen admits he worried about his son riding a scooter, but it represented independence his son had earned.
Living in sober housing, McMullen had very little. All he owned for shoes were his cowboy boots.
“He always wore his cowboy boots,” he reminisced.
Buying the electric scooter — something he paid for himself — was a major achievement.
“Somebody in his position, just to be able to pay for something and have something of your own doesn’t seem like much to some people,” McMullen said. “But it was something for him.”
Andrew had the scooter shipped to his father’s house, where McMullen put it together for him.
Donate: GoFundMe set up for the family
Tough love, Hard truths, and Real change
McMullen says his family never abandoned Andrew, but they practiced tough love — refusing to enable behaviors that could cost him his life.
“I told him, ‘It’s not fair to me and your mom and your family if you die of an overdose,’” he said. “That day, something broke in him. He apologized.”
This time, McMullen said, Andrew proved his words with action.
“He left this world sober, free from addiction of drugs and alcohol,” his father said.
What police say happened
According to Baton Rouge Police, the crash happened around 9:41 p.m. on December 26 at 7648 Perkins Road.
Investigators say a 2020 Nissan Kicks was traveling north on Staring Lane and making a right turn into the RaceTrac parking lot when it hit Andrew’s electric scooter with the front right corner of the vehicle. Police say the impact was in the vehicle’s lane of travel on a private drive. Andrew was not wearing a helmet.
The driver consented to field sobriety testing and a blood draw. Police say impairment is not suspected, and toxicology results are pending.
A father waiting for answers
McMullen says he has not yet received detailed information from police and hopes surveillance footage from the RaceTrac will help him understand what happened in his son’s final moments.
By the time McMullen arrived from Denham Springs, Andrew had already been moved from the emergency room to the neurology floor. Andrew’s heart had stopped once in the ER, and doctors were able to revive him. Scans later showed no brain function. When his heart stopped a second time, doctors did not resuscitate him.
“I was in the room with him,” he said. “Along with his oldest brother.”
A family grieves, a community rallies
Andrew leaves behind his father and stepmother, his mother Dana and stepfather, four brothers, two sisters, a half-brother, and a large extended family that includes seven nephews and four nieces.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family during this difficult time.
As the investigation continues, McMullen says he wants his son remembered not for addiction, but for recovery and hope.
“He was finally free,” his father said. “And I thank God he knew how proud we were.”
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