Rahway Man Asks For Help Finding Hit-And-Run Driver Who Crashed Into Teenage Daughter
RAHWAY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey father is hoping the woman who drove into his daughter then dropped her off on their doorstep will turn herself in to police.
The hit-and-run crash in Rahway on Thursday left 13-year-old Yarelliz Valentin with a swollen head, black-and-blue marks on her eye and a messed-up knee and hip that have left her limping, CBS2's Christine Sloan reported.
"When I got hit, all I remember is seeing colors," Yarelliz said.
"I got hit in the hip -- I am assuming, because I have a tiny bruise there," she continued.
The bruises on Yarelliz's face, she said, are either from smashing into the car or hitting the pavement when the driver crashed into her on East Milton Avenue as she walked home from school.
"Then I got up, and she was standing there," Yarelliz said. "And she asked if I was OK. And I said, 'I guess so.'"
The seventh-grader said the woman, a complete stranger, then helped her into a teal Honda Civic and dropped her off in front of her house without checking to see if her parents were home. They were not.
"I was angry at the time -- very angry -- that someone could do this to a 13-year-old," said Yarelliz's father, Jose. "Drop her off unattended, not knowing the severity of the injuries."
The accident, classified as a hit-and-run, occurred near the police station. Officers say the driver was required by law to report it and at least call an ambulance.
"Please turn yourself in or find a way to contact us," Jose Valentin said.
The teenager said the driver was making a right turn at a stop sign and that they made eye contact before the collision. But when she walked, the woman drove into her.
The Valentins are asking for any witnesses to come forward. One of those witnesses, they believe, was a man on a bicycle.
"This was our child today," her father said. "It could be your child tomorrow."
The driver could face up to 180 days behind bars for leaving the scene of an accident.