Caught on video: 12-year-old girl struck by hit-and-run driver in the Bronx
NEW YORK -- A little girl is recovering after being hit by a car on Sunday in the Bronx. The NYPD says it is looking for the driver who fled the scene.
CBS2's Leah Mishkin spoke to the 12-year-old's mother on Thursday morning.
"Shocking to see. Hurtful. Sickening. Devastating," Christine Cruz said.
Cruz said she wishes she had never seen the surveillance video of her daughter getting hit by a car, footage she hopes will help police find the driver.
"I can't believe that the person left the scene. I mean, who would do that to a child?" Cruz said.
Cruz said she decided to get some fresh air with her daughter, Nevaeh, on Sunday at a park near their home.
"Most of her school friends were at the park where the accident happened," Cruz said.
The mother of three told Mishkin it was her daughter's first time going out of the house in a while because she had been recovering from breathing complications after getting COVID-19. She has asthma.
"I decided to take her out Sunday because she got better," Cruz said.
The seventh grader asked if she could meet some friends at a nearby park afterwards. She got hit on the walk over.
"Next thing you know my instincts tell me let me go check on my daughter. I got a call from her friend saying that she got hit by a car," Cruz said.
By the time she got to 1711 Boone Ave. in Morrisania, Nevaeh was being put into an ambulance.
"It was devastating. I could have almost lost my daughter, but I'm grateful that she's alive. She has been crying and she has just been thanking God that she's here," Cruz said.
The mother said Nevaeh still has a lot of pain in her shoulder and also suffered a bad cut on her face that needed stitches.
"Behind her back she has a scar, like a tire ran over her ... from her neck to her waist, and all her fingers are sliced like if you cut it with a knife," Cruz said.
Angel Ramos said he was on vacation when he got a call from Cruz, asking if his nearby auto body repair shop caught the hit-and-run on surveillance camera.
"I sent her over the video of three different angles of the accident. They need to put some speed bumps over here because everyone flies by here, speeding by. It's not the first time people get hit by a car," Ramos said.
Cruz said her daughter, who wants to be a nurse, is traumatized and they're taking it day by day. She's asking the driver to come forward, and is hoping her daughter feels better by her birthday next month.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.