14-year-old girl killed by hit-and-run driver while crossing street with mother: police
Community pleads for driver to turn themselves in after girl struck, killed in West Philly
Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who they say fatally struck a 14-year-old girl while crossing the street with her mother. The heartbroken community is pleading with the driver to turn themselves in.
WEST PHILADELPHIA - Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who they say fatally struck a 14-year-old girl who was crossing the street with her mother.
The deadly crash happened Thursday night just after 9 p.m. at the intersection of 65th Street and Haverford Avenue, according to police.
Investigators say the driver of a black sedan swerved to avoid the mother and daughter, but struck 14-year-old Dawn Watson and kept driving.
The mother told investigators she felt the car scrape her knuckles as it passed, and turned around to find her daughter had been hit.
FOX 29's Steve Keeley reports through police sources that Watson was found nearly a block away.
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) said Watson attended Cassidy Academic Plus. She was in the 8th grade and in her first year at the school.
"She was very independent, very mature always thinking about her friends, her new friends that she had just made," said spokesperson Monique Braxton of SDP.
"The student that was here was a caring resilient advocate for herself and for others. She had a very communicative spirit and would share how she felt about things constantly," said Principal Dr. Herman Douglas Jr. of Cassidy Academic Plus. "She would always come to me and give me that special fist bump every single morning, so just to know that was the last time that I was going to see her, spend time with her. We just ask for the individual that hit this 8th grade student that caused this trauma to our community, can you please turn yourself in."
A makeshift memorial was growing on Friday with flowers, stuffed animals and candy in memory of Watson.
"A bear and some balloons and you know I put rest in peace and I put a heart just so her family can see someone cares," said neighbor Donna Williams. "People drive reckless and you know to hear something like that, that is so tragic and not to stop like you know what I’m saying that’s just, that tore me up."
"It’s sad a little girl lost her life and it could’ve been prevented," said neighbor Yuri Ashford. "I mean this intersection has been dangerous for a long time and you just have too many places that kids play around. There’s a library around the corner. Playground down the street. A school down this way, a school right here and there’s another school Cassidy. It was only a matter of time before something happened. My heart goes out to the parents to the family can’t imagine what they’re going through."
The victim and her mother were walking back with groceries from Family Dollar in hand. Ronetta Edwards works at Family Dollar and said the store will collect cards from the community and make sure they’re delivered to Watson’s family.
"For someone to keep going is like really different and it hits hard because I have children of my own. It’s just horrible and now a lot of kids have to go to school today and don’t have their classmate," Edwards commented. "It feels funny to drive over a cat, to hit a bird, to drive over anything so to hit a person like I would’ve had to stop. I would’ve had to have stopped. I could feel her mother’s pain because losing a child, there’s nothing worse in the world."
Police believe the hit-and-run car could be a Mercedes sedan with heavy front end damage. The Philadelphia Police Department Crash Investigation Division is investigating.