Mother and daughter among 4 hurt after Roxborough hit-and-run crash, police say

ROXBOROUGH - A car smashed into the front of a building in a hit-and-run in Philadelphia's Roxborough neighborhood.

Officials said the accident happened just after 12:30 Friday afternoon on the 5800 block of Henry Avenue.

Police say the driver lost control and slammed into the building, after hitting a 32-year-old woman and her 9-year-old daughter, who were crossing the street.

Both of them are in the hospital, with the woman suffering severe injuries, and listed in critical condition. The girl is stable.

Two passengers in the care were treated for minor injuries.

Police say the driver of the car ran off.

Kate Lepone is a waitress at Chubby's Steaks in Roxborough and can't stop thinking about the woman and her 9-year-old daughter who were hurt in the hit-and-run.

"I saw her laying on the street. There was a bunch of people around her. I saw her daughter on the sidewalk, who had also been hit," Lepone explained. "I could just see she was crying and the daughter was hurt, herself. Her leg was shattered. I was just so upset."

"Cars fly up and down here constantly," Matthew Melnick, a Roxborough resident, said.

Customers outside Dalessandro's Steaks and Hoagies say drivers treat the road like a speedway.

"We tried to cross here. Took us, like, 10 minutes to get across the street," Melnick added.

FOX 29 reached out to both PennDOT and Councilmember Curtis Jones and found safety improvements have been made on several sections of Henry Avenue. One section is under construction.

"It's tragic that something like this happens. It could be avoided if there is some kind of crosswalk here," another Roxborough resident, George Mathes, commented.

Lepone added, "I'm just praying for them and I've been praying for them since the moment it happened. I really hope she's not without a mother. I hope that she survives."